A Partnership of Democracies

This week, a delegation from India's government arrived in Washington for the first-ever strategic dialogue between India and the United States. This was no routine meeting. It was the culmination of years of intensive engagement between our countries engagement that will grow even deeper as we confront the urgent global, regional and local challenges of this era.

India is the world's largest democracy, one of its fastest growing economies and a rising power in Asia and beyond. It has vibrant democratic institutions, a free press, robust civil society, an innovative private sector and tens of millions of citizens whose talents have yet to be fully realised. It is also a model of democratic development that has lifted millions of people out of poverty by widening access to the tools of opportunity education, healthcare, food, water and jobs.