New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump have agreed to enhance peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region with a new two-by-two ministerial dialogue, the White House has said.
In a rare gesture, Trump himself picked up the phone early on Tuesday to call Modi to congratulate the 1.2 billion citizens of India on Independence Day, PTI reported.
During the phone call, Trump welcomed the first-ever shipment of American crude oil to India, which will begin this month from Texas.
He pledged that the US would continue to be a reliable and long-term supplier of energy to India, the White House said in a readout of the phone call between the two leaders.
"The leaders resolved to enhance peace and stability across the Indo-Pacific region by establishing a new two-by-two ministerial dialogue that will elevate their strategic consultations," the White House said, without giving details of the mechanism.
As the leaders of two of the world's largest and fastest-growing major economies, Trump and Modi looked forward to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in India this November, the White House said, adding that Trump has asked his daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump to lead the US summit delegation.
"Prime Minister Modi thanked President Trump for his strong leadership uniting the world against the North Korean menace," it added.
Trump had recently warned North Korea that it would face "fire and fury" if it attacked the United States, while the North threatened to test-fire its missiles over Japan and towards the US Pacific island of Guam.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson telephoned External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and greeted her and people of India on the occasion of Independence Day, PTI reported.
"The US is proud to stand with the people of India, the world's largest democracy, in the cause for freedom and prosperity around the globe," he said.
"Prime Minister Modi's ambitious vision for the US-India relationship holds great promise for advancing our shared interests in the 21st century, and we look forward to the many years of friendship before us," Tillerson added.
Tillerson and Swaraj "had good conversation", Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
They "discussed newly established" two-plus-two mechanism to harness synergy in foreign and defence engagements, the spokesperson said.
(With PTI inputs)
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