WASHINGTON (Reuters) - India is destined to be a strong defense partner of the United States and there is great potential for military cooperation between the two countries, President Barack Obama's nominee as defense secretary Ashton Carter said on Wednesday.
"India is destined to be a strategic partner of the United States. It's a large democracy, shares a lot of our political values and values of pluralism," Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee at his confirmation hearing.
He said he favored hastening moves to strengthening ties between the two countries and saw great potential for more cooperation in the military-to-military and defense technologies areas. He said he would take a strong interest in expanding U.S.-India ties if confirmed as defense secretary.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Lisa Lambert; Editing by James Dalgleish)