Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was due Sunday to start the first US state visit under President Barack Obama, who hopes to show his dedication to the emerging power even as his attention lies elsewhere.
The prime minister was scheduled to fly into Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, two days before Obama rolls out the red carpet and toasts Singh at his White House's first black-tie dinner.
The state visit is a sign of the rapidly warming relationship between the world's two largest democracies, which had uneasy ties during the Cold War but which Obama has vowed to treat as a first-rate partner.
"India is a rising global power," said Robert Blake, the assistant secretary of state for South Asia. "We think that India has an increasingly significant role to play on virtually all of the major challenges that we face in this century."
While issues from counter-terrorism to trade to climate change were expected on the agenda, experts said the state visit likely had a broader intention -- for Obama to show India he did not take it for granted.
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