The US  Defence Secretary, Ash Carter says that, the US  is looking for “stronger and closer” relations with India but not for “anything exclusive.” Mr. Carter scheduled to start his  three-day visit to India on April 10.

"We are looking for  a closer relationship and a stronger relationship as we can, because it is geo-politically grounded," Carter said on Tuesday, days ahead his visit to India.

“They (India) want to do things their own way. They don’t want to do things just with us. They want to do things themselves. So all that’s fine. So we’re not looking for anything exclusive,” he said.

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He said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), that, "The specific things we are doing with them is two-fold. One, is we have the rebalance so to speak, westward from the United States. They have Act East, which is their strategic approach eastward."

The Hindu reported that, Richard M. Rossow, Wadhwani Chair in U.S. India Policy Studies at CSIS, said that,  “There is a great deal of buzz over renewed talks on signing one or more of the defence foundation agreement Such agreements open new doors to cooperation, and are tangible signposts of progress in our security relationship.”

Nandini