US forged 'strategic partnership' with India in Obama's tenure

The US has forged a "strategic partnership" with India in the eight years of Obama administration which also considerably improved America's standing in the world, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said, two weeks ahead of demitting the office.

"In Asia, we have been standing side by side with our friends, strengthening sanctions on North Korea, improving regional missile defence capabilities, supporting the rule of law in the South China Sea and forging a strategic partnership with India, enhancing our ties with Vietnam and spurring democratic progress in Myanmar where a freely elected parliament has been seated for the first time," Kerry said.

In what was described as Kerry's last press conference in his capacity as Secretary of State, the top American diplomat, while addressing reporters at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, said because of the policies undertaken by the Obama administration in the last eight years, the US' standing in the world has improved from what it was in 2009.

"We will turn over to our successors a country whose international standing is much improved from 2009 when President (Barack) Obama took office eight years ago. No one should forget the incredible fertility of the global economic crisis as a consequence of the late 2008 early 2009 economic disaster that we faced on a global basis," he said.

Economically, the country has moved from the depths of crisis to robust levels of exports, the longest sustained period of private sector job growth in US history, Kerry said.

"Our overseas alliances in Europe and Asia are vigorous and strong. We have strengthened what we do in Asia, strengthened the relationship between Korea and Japan, strengthened our relationship trilaterally with Korea and Japan, worked effectively with China to try to define a new model of how important powers need to work in the world.

"We have strengthened our alliance with NATO, strengthened our alliance with the frontline states. Our level of security support to a democratic Israel is unprecedented. Across the globe, we have helped ensure that a child entering the world today is more likely to be born healthy, more likely to receive the necessary vaccinations, more likely to be educated, more likely to live a long life than any previous generation and that is just as true for women and girls as it is for men and boys," Kerry said.