PRIME MINISTER SINGH: Your Excellency, President Barack Obama, distinguished representatives of the media, I'm delighted to welcome President Obama and his gracious wife on their first visit to our country. I welcome the President as a personal friend and a great charismatic leader who has made a deep imprint on world affairs through his inclusive vision of peace, security and welfare for all peoples and all nations.

The President and the First Lady have made an abiding impression on the people of India with their warmth, with their grace, and with their commitment to promoting the relationship between our two great democracies.

President Obama yesterday characterized the India-U.S. partnership as one of the defining and indispensable partnerships of the 21st century. In my discussion with the President, we have decided to accelerate the deepening of our ties and to work as equal partners in a strategic relationship that will positively and decisively influence world peace, stability and progress.

We welcome the decision by the United States to lift control from exports of high-technology items and the technologies to India, and support India's membership in multilateral export control regimes such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group. This is a manifestation of the growing trust and confidence in each other.

We have agreed on steps to expand our cooperation in space, civil nuclear defense and other high-end sectors. We have announced specific initiatives in the areas of clean energy, health and agriculture. These include a joint clean energy research and development center, the establishment of a global disease detection center in India, and an agreement for cooperation in weather and crop forecasting.

We have decided to hold a higher education summit next year. Cooperation in the field of education holds great promise because no two other countries are better equipped to be partners in building the knowledge economy of the future.

The United States is one of our largest trading partners. Our trade is balanced and growing. India is among the fastest-growing sources of investment in the United States. Indian investments have helped to increase the competitiveness of the U.S. economy. We welcome increased U.S. investment and high-technology flows in key sectors of our economy, including the sector of nuclear energy.

We have agreed to facilitate trade and people-to-people exchanges, recognizing that protectionism is detrimental to both our economies.

I conveyed our gratitude to the President for the cooperation we have received in our counterterrorism measures post-Mumbai. We will start a new homeland security dialogue to deepen this cooperation.

We had a detailed exchange on the situation in our extended region, including East Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and West Asia. We have a shared vision of security, stability and prosperity in Asia based on an open and inclusive regional architecture. We have agreed to broaden our strategic dialogue to cover other regions and areas, and initiate joint projects in Africa and Afghanistan.

As states possessing nuclear weapons, we have today put forth a common vision of a world without nuclear weapons, and decided to lead global efforts for nonproliferation and universal and non-discriminating global nuclear disarmament. This is a historic and bold bilateral initiative.

We also decided to strengthen cooperation to tackle nuclear terrorism and we welcome U.S. participation in the Global Center of Nuclear Energy Partnership, which will be set up in India.

President Obama is a sincere and a valued friend of our country, and our discussions have led to a meeting of minds. Ours is a partnership based on common values and interests, a shared vision of the world, and the deep-rooted ties of friendship among our two peoples. I look forward to working with the President to realize the enormous potential of this partnership of our two countries.

I now invite President Obama to make his remarks. And I thank you. (Applause)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you very much, Prime Minister Singh. And good afternoon, everyone. I want to begin by saying how thrilled my wife Michelle and I and our entire delegation are to be here in India. We have been received with incredible warmth and incredible hospitality. And that includes the hospitality of our friends, Prime Minister Singh and his lovely wife Mrs. Kaur, who we thank for such graciousness and a wonderful dinner last night.

As I've said throughout my visit, I have come to India because I believe that the relationship between the United States and India is indispensable to addressing the challenges of our time - from creating economic opportunity for our people to confronting terrorism and violent extremism; from preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to addressing climate change; from the development that gives people and nations a path out of poverty to advancing human rights and values that are universal. None of this will be possible without strong cooperation between the United States and India.

Moreover, as Prime Minister Singh alluded to, ours is no ordinary relationship. As the world's two largest democracies, as large and growing free market economies, as diverse, multiethnic societies with strong traditions of pluralism and tolerance, we have not only an opportunity but also a responsibility to lead.

And that's why I believe that the relationship between the United States and India will, in fact, be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century. That's why I've worked with the Prime Minister, a man of extraordinary intellect and great integrity, to deepen and broaden the cooperation between our two countries. And I very much look forward to addressing the Indian Parliament and the people of India later today to discuss how the United States and India can take our partnership to the next level, with a vision of how we can work together as global partners.

With the progress we've made today, we're seeing just how broad and deep our cooperation can be. As President, I've had the opportunity to appear with many of my foreign counterparts at press conferences such as this, but I cannot remember an occasion when we have agreed to so many new partnerships across so many areas as we have during my visit.

We've expanded trade and investment to create prosperity for our people. The major trade deals that were signed in Mumbai were an important step forward in elevating India to one of America's top trading partners. Today I'm pleased to welcome India's preliminary agreement to purchase 10 C-17 cargo planes, which will enhance Indian capabilities and support 22,000 jobs back in the United States.

We agreed to reform our controls on exports, and the United States will remove Indian organizations from the so-called