American President Barack Obama gets along well with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, United States ambassador Timothy J Roemer said on Thursday, adding that their expected five to six minute telephonic chat sometimes turns into a conversation twice as long.
"I met President Obama recently and he told me that he and Singh share many common interests and concerns. The President said he gets on the phone with Singh and sometimes, he expects a five or six minute conversation to talk about business and it turns into a conversation twice as long as that," Roemer told reporters in Mumbai on Thursday.
"During the hour-long meeting with President Obama before I came to India, the President touched his heart and said he finds that he gets along well with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," he said.
"The President told me that the Indo-US relationship is the most important and the best relationship. He feels this relationship is robust and going in a very positive direction," Roemer said. Dr Singh will be in Pittsburgh in the US next week to attend the G-20 Summit hosted by Obama.
Dr Singh will again travel to the US in November when he will be the first state guest in the Obama administration since it assumed office in January. At the end of the G-20 Summit in London in April, Obama was all praise for Dr Singh, calling him 'a wise and decent man'.
President Obama further said that Dr Singh "has been doing a wonderful job in guiding India, even prior to being the prime minister, along the path of extraordinary economic growth. That is marvel, I think, for the entire world".
President Obama was referring to Dr Singh's role in the economic liberalisation process in India.
