Days ahead of the trip, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said that energy policy and climate change will rank as top agenda items as US negotiators lay the groundwork for an international climate agreement ahead of a December UN summit in Paris.
He also identified economy, defense and regional and global issues as key matters of the discussion between the two leaders when they meet later this week.
"As the world's two largest democracies, there's extraordinary potential in this relationship. We want to turn this potential into concrete benefits for our people. And so this trip comes at a time when we have a growing agenda with India," Rhodes told reporters during a conference call.
"Our goal is to leave this relationship in a fundamentally different place than it was when President Obama took office, and when Prime Minister Modi assumed charge. We believe that we have a unique moment of opportunity to have that type of breakthrough," he said.
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He noted that India has been a top foreign policy priority for the Obama Administration and US-India cooperation can significantly advance American interests in terms of promoting economic ties and increased exports to a growing market.
"That's based on our belief that our Asia-Pacific policy benefits from closer ties with India, and it's also based on our cooperation on a broad range of global issues," he said.
Dwelling on the key agendas for Modi-Obama talks, Rhodes said, "We are looking to increase our cooperation in pursuit of developing clean energy, but also pursuing a successful and ambitious round of climate negotiations this year, leading in to Paris.