WASHINGTON, March 22: Washington’s landmark nuclear agreement with India reflects the flourishing US economic and political relationship with New Delhi, a senior US official said on Wednesday. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns told reporters that India now occupies a “singularly important” place in US foreign policy.

“The relationship between India and the United States is singularly important for our society and for the future of American foreign policy,” he said.

“We think, frankly, that one of the most important strategic initiatives of the United States in the last few years has been the opening to India,” Burns said.

He hailed “the tremendous American private investment in India, particularly in the advanced technology sector (and) the tremendous expansion of trade which has benefited both of our countries,” said Burns, who hailed “a multiplicity of private sector ties.”

“We’ve also seen a real flourishing of ties between American citizens and Indian citizens,” the US diplomat said. “There are 85,000 Indians studying in the United States — that’s the largest group of foreign students.”

“That private sector expansion has been coupled with the emergence of a key — now global — partnership between the Indian and American government, which we think is going to be critical for for stability in Asia ... in South Asia, as well as in the greater Middle East, as we look to the future,” Burns said.

NUCLEAR DEAL: The United States pleaded its case on Wednesday for allowing India to buy sensitive nuclear technology on the world market, at a meeting of an international group reviewing export controls.