WASHINGTON: A top Obama administration official will travel to India next week to broaden and deepen Indo-U.S. ties following a brief standoff over the Devyani Khobragade affair.

Nisha Desai Biswal, the Indian-origin U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, will visit Bangalore and New Delhi during March 4-6.

She will seek to broaden and deepen the bilateral relationship, which President Barack Obama has called "one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century".

"The breadth and quality of our strategic partnership with India attests to the underlying strength and salience of our relations," Ms Biswal said.

Ms Biswal had planned to visit India in January but the trip had to be postponed over the diplomatic row caused by the U.S. arresting Ms Khobragade on visa fraud charges in December.

On March 4, she will meet government and business leaders in Bangalore to discuss joint efforts to foster innovation, increase hi-tech and engineering engagement, and strengthen economic ties.

From Bangalore, Ms Biswal will travel to New Delhi, where she will meet senior Indian officials to discuss the full range of bilateral and regional issues, including shared defence, security, and economic engagement across the Indo-Pacific corridor, the State Department said.

On March 6, Ms Biswal will deliver remarks on the U.S.-India economic relationship at the American Centre in New Delhi.

"The United States is proud to partner with India on virtually every field of human endeavour, from innovative solutions to poverty and disease to space exploration, from counter terrorism and security cooperation to higher education and people-to-people ties," Ms Biswal said.

"I look forward to discussing these and other issues that are vital to the well-being of our two peoples," she said in a statement.

"She is going to meet the government officials, and it is - mostly the focus is on the economic cooperation and all," State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
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