By Arun Kumar  

Washington, Jul 24 (IANS): US lawmakers and officials have highlighted the importance of India-US relationship, with the administration's pointsperson for South Asia saying India's rise is in US' interest and a strong US is in India's interest.

The officials made the comments at a Congressional Reception organised by Senate Caucus on India and Indian Americans at the Capitol Hill on Wednesday to welcome Arun K. Singh on his taking over as India's ambassador to the US.

The event was hosted by senators Mark Warner and John Cornyn, Democratic and Republican co-chairs respectively of the Caucus.

Speaking at the event, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Biswal, noted that India's rise is in US' interest and a strong US is in India's interest.

Praising the leadership of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she recapitulated the successful bilateral summits.

She reiterated Modi's remarks that the strong, bipartisan India-US relationship benefits not only its citizens but also the world.

Welcoming Singh, who previously served as deputy chief of mission here, back to Washington, both Warner and Cornyn spoke warmly of Singh's contributions in promoting India-US relations.

Warner reiterated his commitment to promoting India-US ties. Cornyn highlighted the strong relationship between India and US being 'world's largest' and 'world's oldest' democracies which are bound by common values.

Thanking Warner and Cornyn for their leadership at the Senate Caucus on India and Indian Americans, Singh noted the important contributions made by the Caucus to bring the people and governments of the two countries closer.

He described the bipartisan support for India-US relations in the US Congress as a source of strength for the India-US strategic partnership that now spans almost all dimensions of human endeavour.

The event was attended by a number of US senators, senior officials of US administration, leaders of the Indian American community from across the US, as well as by members of the media, the think tank community and academia.

Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans is a bipartisan group of Senators founded in 2004 by Cornyn and the then Senator from New York and former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton