Hillary Clinton yesterday agreed a keenly awaited deal allowing the sale of sophisticated US defence technology to India in a sign of deepening ties between two of the world's largest democracies.
The agreement, which came alongside another deal to boost US co-operation in New Delhi's ambitious space programme, was made as the US secretary of state ended a five-day visit to India in which she demonstrated a firm resolve to support Asia's third largest economy as a global power.
The so-called “end-use monitoring” pact allows Washington to check up on sophisticated weapons systems that it will sell to New Delhi while the space co-operation agreement paves the way for US technology to be used in India's satellites.