U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday ceremoniously received Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the first guest of the nation since the Obama administration began. The two leaders produced a joint statement in which they "reaffirmed the global strategic partnership" between their two nations.
The United States apparently sought to assuage India's fear that the Obama administration is cooler toward it than the Bush administration was, in light of moves to strengthen ties with China such as Mr. Obama's recent four-day visit to that country.
Although India is not a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the Bush administration in 2007 signed an accord to provide India with civilian nuclear fuel and technology. The U.S. and India are still sorting out rules for implementing the accord.