US-India strategic relationship 'very important', Obama tells PM

By IANS

New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS) The new US administration would like to work with India on all global issues, US president-elect Barack Obama said in an early morning phone call to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday.

While Manmohan Singh said Obama's victory was a source of inspiration for oppressed people, the US president-to-be praised his contribution to India's progress, first as a finance minister and now as prime minister, said an official in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

"The US-India strategic relationship is a very important partnership," an official quoted Obama as saying.

"The new administration wants to work with India on all global issues," Obama added in his phone call.

Manmohan Singh, according to the PMO official, said India-US relations were very good but "we couldn't be satisfied with the status quo".

He also wished Obama success in dealing with the new challenges that he faces and invited him and his wife Michelle to visit India.

Just a day earlier, while returning from a two nation visit to the Gulf, Manmohan Singh had said that Obama had wanted to talk to him a couple of days earlier but could not establish contact since he was travelling.

Soon after his victory, Obama had called 15 world leaders, including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.