U.S. Looking Forward To Better Military Relationship With India

Washington: The U.S. is looking forward to increasing its military relationship with India and the Defence Department receiving directions from the Obama administration in this regard last year itself, a top U.S. Pacific Commander (PACOM) said.

In an interaction with foreign journalists yesterday, the PACOM Commander, Samuel Locklear, said the recent Joint Declaration on Defence Cooperation issued after the White House meeting between the U.S. President, Barack Obama, and the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, is a significant development.

I think it's a very important joint statement.

And I think that it outlined clearly the direction that we want to go together," Locklear said.

"We had been given in the Defence department some direction from the administration, I think, last year, on how we should start working our plans to develop a longer-term strategic relationship with our Indian partners.

It's good for the security of the region; it's good for our own and Indian national interests," he said.

Noting that the two countries have had a growing military-to-military coordination for some time, he referred to the ongoing Malabar Exercise, which he said has been going on for well over a decade or so.