Mattis, the first Cabinet Minister of the Trump Administration to visit India from tomorrow, said that for America India was clearly a pillar of regional stability and security.
"We have a historic opportunity to set a refreshed partnership between our nations, and it's a partnership built on respect, trust and the shared values of democracy, freedom of expression and human dignity. And our vision aims to support an open, just and rules-based global order," Mattis told reporters travelling with him to India.
"Basically putting meat on the structure, not only in terms of US-India partnership, but how the United States and India can work together to build partnerships across the region," he said.
"India, from our perspective, is clearly a pillar of regional stability and security. We share a common vision for a peaceful and prosperous vision in the Indo-Pacific region, one that's based on that strong, rules-based international order, and the peaceful resolution of disputes and territorial integrity," he said.
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"In particular, I want to applaud India's invaluable contributions, significant contributions, to promote Afghanistan's democracy, stability and security in the fight against terrorism. Plus, we have a host of other issues to work with more vigour as well, as we look toward the future," he said.
During his India visit, Mattis will lay a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate and inspect tri-service guard of honour at the South Block lawns. He will also hold talks with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Noting that the US-India defence cooperation has steadily expanded in recent years, underpinned by their common objectives and goals in the region, Mattis said this relation will benefit both economies while reducing any legacy and trust issues.
He said the Department of Defence's designation of India as a major defence partner reflected the progress made in strengthening the two countries' security cooperation.
Mattis said the goal of his trip was to promote pragmatic progress between the two countries' defence partnership, delivering defence interoperability aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump's direction as security is on of the key strategic pillars.
"We will be working on this trip and in the future to bring our bureaucracies up to speed by underlining our commonalities in our approaches and our objectives," he said.
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