Article Posted on : - Mar 28, 2016

PANAJI  (PTI): America's participation in the Defence Expo will be a boost to the 'Make in India' campaign as several companies from that country are interested in setting up a base here, the US Consul General has said.

"America has tremendous interest in cooperating with India," US Consul General in Mumbai Thomas L Vajda said here ahead of the four-day DefExpo that begins on Monday in Goa.

"We want to work in India under the Make In India initiative. Various private sector companies in America are eager to work here," Vajda said.

It is almost unprecedented the way the US was working with India to support its (India's) aspiration of being a regional and global leader, he said.

Stating that the US is the biggest participant in the DefExpo, the Consul added that the collaboration between the two countries goes beyond "just buying and selling (defence equipment)."

He said personal relations between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama had helped "to build the relationship but it is not completely dependent on it."

To a question on comparing the US's relationship with Pakistan and India, Vajda said, "These are two different relationships."

General Dennis L Via, Commander of the US Army Materiel Command (AMC), said 90 American companies are participating in the DefExpo, making it largest representation of any country barring India in the event.

He said there has been improvement in relationship between the two countries. "America and India will be able to share best practices in defence," Via said.

Ann Cataldo, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the American Army for defence exports and cooperation, said she was looking at having dialogue with her Indian counterparts.

"I have come here to talk to my Indian counterparts and find more next generation projects," she said, adding the visit is also to find the "gaps" between America and India in defence sector.