Obama says Namaste India

US President Barack Obama greeted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with a Namaste at the first state dinner in Washington. Calling India a rising and responsible global power, Obama ran through an exhaustive and expansive agenda between the two countries. Lavishing praise on Singh, standing next to him at the White House press interview, the president said India would play a 'pivotal role' in meeting future challenges in the world, and US-India ties will be the defining partnership of the 21st century.

"The United States welcomes and encourages India’s leadership role in helping to shape the rise of a stable, peaceful, and prosperous Asia," Mr. Obama said.

"So, engagement is the right strategy for India as well as for United States. We ourselves have tried very hard to engage China in the last five years and today China is one of our major trading partners," he said.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, "There are other values which are important than the growth of gross domestic product. I think the respect for fundamental human rights, the respect for the rule of law, respect for multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious rights, I think those have values. So, even the Indian perforce with regard to the GDP might not be as good as the Chinese, certainly I would not like to choose the Chinese path.