Obama,Manmohan set to take Indo-US relations to 8216;new level8217;

Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar has said that the Indo-US financial partnership will be a source of strength for the two nations.

The Indo-US relationship has evolved into a 8220;comprehensive partnership of mutual trust and confidence8221; and the two countries are prepared to take it to a 8220;new level8221; during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh8217;s visit in Washington,Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar has said.

Speaking at the prestigious James Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Houston8217;s Rice University,Shankar said the financial partnership will be a source of strength for the two nations at a moment of global economic uncertainty.

8220;We are at an exciting moment of hope and opportunity,as Prime Minister Singh and President Barack Obama prepare to build on the progress we have made to take the relationship to a new level,8221; the Indian Ambassador here,said last week.

In her keynote address on 8220;India and the United States: A Partnership for Prosperity8221;,Shankar said the heart of the two leaders8217; effort will be to create a framework that unleashes the energy and enterprise of people,to build a relationship that will make the two nations safer and more prosperous and also help address the global challenges faced by them.

She said the historic civil nuclear agreement inked last year has been as much a symbol as an instrument of transformation in Indo-US relationship.

Singh will be here on November 24 for the first state visit of Obama Administration.

The Indian Ambassador said: 8220;Beyond the civil nuclear agreement our ties have become genuinely broad-based8230; The extraordinary breadth of our engagement has taken us into hitherto uncharted territories,including defence,intelligence and counter-terrorism cooperation.8221;

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Contending that the India-US relationship has evolved into a 8220;truly comprehensive partnership of mutual trust and confidence,8221; she said there was hardly a field of human endeavour where the two countries are not breaking new grounds and re-defining their paradigm of engagement.

8220;Our relationship has stood the test of public goodwill and political support in both countries,and,the support is bipartisan in nature,enabling us to maintain a steady course through election cycles in our two countries. Shared democratic values and converging security interests,especially in the context of Asia and the new unconventional threats that are growing,have led us to seek a closer relationship,8221; Shankar said according to the transcripts of the speech released by the Indian Embassy in Washington on Monday.