Washington:
Declaring that India is destined to be a nation of global influence, the US has said bilateral ties are moving towards 'full maturity', encompassing cooperation in areas like defence, climate change and energy as well as on nuclear and regional geo-political issues.
"Obviously, India is on a path of ascendancy. It is destined to be a nation of global influence," US National Security Adviser Gen (Retd) James Jones told.
His remarks follow US President Barack Obama's statement that India is a rising and responsible global power "indispensable" to a future American strategy.
Jones said it is extremely important that countries like India and the United States have "a national affinity" for one another as expressed by the strong friendship between the two sides, including their heads of State.
"We have converging values, we both want better lives for our citizens and our children, we want to eliminate the scourge of terrorism, we would like to have a better climate, a better management of our fragile planet and nations of influence can shape that globally.
"When there are two countries like ours that are working together along those lines that has a huge effect in other parts of the world for the better," Jones said.
On that scale of things, the recent successful Strategic Dialogue, the first between India and the US at the Cabinet-level co-chaired by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his counterpart Hillary Clinton, is a very encouraging development, he said.
"The Strategic Dialogue highlights in very concrete ways the close relationship that exists between India and the United States; between the Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) and the President (Barack Obama), between the multiplicities of the organs of our governments that have to do with a variety of things," he said.
It is not just a uni-dimensional relationship but it is much broader, Jones said. "And I think, the Strategic Dialogue is taking the relationship to unprecedented levels of cooperation between the two countries."
"Whether it is security or defence or energy or climate or nuclear issues or regional geo-political issues, it's a relationship that is moving towards full maturity," he said.
The top aide to the US President on national security matters said the cooperation between India and the United States is a two-way street.
"I think from day one, it has been a two way street," Jones said when asked how the bilateral relationship has progressed in the field of security and counter-terrorism in the Obama Administration.
"I think that President and the Prime Minister have laid out a strategic approach that is based on long-term commitment and not just short term self interest, in our case the presence in the region," he said.