Hailing it as "one of the great successes of the Bush administration", a top Obama government official today gave credit to the former US President for boosting India-US relations, which, he said, lacked "forward momentum" at one time.
"If you look at one of the great successes of the Bush administration, it was the ability to take the relationship that had really no forward momentum and bring US-India relations to a level where we despite our concerns...Are now working even closer together," Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in US Department of State Kurt Campbell said here.
Addressing a seminar on America's engagement in the Asia Pacific region, Campbell said US currently shares a "strong relationship" with India, which has been witnessing stupendous growth along with China in recent years.
Obama's upcoming visit to Indonesia and Australia underscores America's keenness to engage with nations in the Asia Pacific region, he said at the seminar organised by the organised by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
Campbell also said that during the first year of the Obama presidency, US-China relationship has been "extraordinarily positive".
Referring to South Korea, Campbell said US currently shares the "closest relationship" with the country in the region and "one that is on the best trajectory".
"We are together trying to engage with a difficult nation North Korea. They have one and one option only, which is to come back to talks with US, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea or they live in isolation without the economic, humanitarian and global support that they need to survive," he added.