US wants to be India's 'premier partner': Pentagon

Washington: The US wants to be not only India's security partner of the first resort but also its "premier partner" in its extraordinary growth story, the Pentagon has said.

These remarks were made by Pentagon Press Secretary Brig Gen Patrick Ryder on Wednesday while responding to a question on the recently launched India-US initiative on critical emerging technologies, which has a significant defence component in it. "The high level of participation from across the US government, US industry, and our universities is unprecedented, and sends a strong signal that the United States wants not only to be India's security partner of first resort – but to be the premier partner in India's extraordinary growth story," Ryder said.

The Department of Defence is excited to work with other US agencies and partners as part of the White House-led United States–India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), he said. "We look forward to sharing more information on our defence cooperation with India as the new initiatives develop moving forward," Ryder said.