‘Taper off differences to meet common goal’

US vice-president Joe Biden on Tuesday stressed on Asian commonalities to taper off differences between the two countries over the endgame in Afghanistan.

US vice-president Joe Biden on Tuesday stressed on Asian commonalities to taper off differences between the two countries over the endgame in Afghanistan.

HT Image

In his separate meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and vice-president Hamid Ansari, Biden referred to India’s Look East policy and how it complements the US re-balancing towards Asia, official sources said.

“India-US relations is critical not just for the two countries but for the entire region. The issue is no longer that what the US can do for India but what the two countries can do together in the world. No other two countries have so much at stake or in common in the emerging global scenario,” he told President Pranab Mukherjee.

Biden also pushed for beginning of the nuclear commerce at the earliest. “They (PM and Biden) also discussed on how to take forward the commercial aspects of the civil nuclear pact,” official sources said.

“The PM underlined the significance of economic exchange between the two countries in helping India tackle a host of issues. Discussions on energy, innovation as well as Afghanistan”, sources added.