India, US create joint challenge coin to mark partnership

India and the US have created a "joint challenge coin" to symbolise their unique partnership in creating a next-generation aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy.

One side of the coin reads "Forward Together We Go" and "Chale Chale Saath Saath" in Hindi; which is the vision statement of US President Barack Obama Prime Minister Narendra Modi, issued in their first meeting at the White House last September.

The other side of this coin, which is golden in colour, has the maps of India and the United States and an aircraft carrier floating on blue water.

The "joint challenge coin" was created by the joint working group at their first meeting in US last month "to symbolise partnership", Keith Webster, Director and International Cooperation Office of the Under Secretary of Defence for Acquisition, Technology and logistics told PTI.

During Obama's visit to India in January, the two countries had announced the establishment of a working group for a next-generation aircraft carrier to bolster the Indian Navy's blue-water capabilities, which held its first-ever meeting here last month.