U.S. and India agree on new economic partnership

By Alister Bull

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and India will establish a new economic partnership which U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will help formally launch in India early next year, the White House said on Tuesday.

The new partnership aims to strengthen economic ties between the two nations and echoes the strategic economic dialogue Washington established with China in 2006.

U.S. President Barack Obama, hosting his first state visit since taking office in January, earlier met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said that the world's largest democracy would be a key source for U.S. growth.

"India will play a pivotal role in meeting the major challenges we face today. And this includes my top economic priority: creating good jobs with good wages for the American people," he told a joint White House press conference.

The Treasury said the new partnership represented "a significant elevation" of the existing bilateral economic relationship between the two countries.

"India is an emerging global power and a country with which the United States has an increasingly important economic and financial relationship," Geithner said in a statement.

Representatives will meet annually at cabinet level, alternately in the United States and India, with working groups getting together throughout the year to push ahead on specific economic policy areas.

The Chinese-U.S. forum, created by Obama's predecessor George W. Bush, gathers twice a year.