Mumbai: Notwithstanding the impasse in the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, Bilateral relations between India and the US have reached a new high with two-way trade expected to more than double to touch $100 billion in the next three - four years, irrespective of the Indo - US nuclear deal.

On the all time high relations between India and US outgoing US consul-general Michael Owen said there have been a series of agreements in various fields like energy, agriculture, trade, investment and open sky policies which were not there 15 years back.

He said  after the successful launch of Israeli, German and Canadian satellites from Shriharikota near Chennai, four US satellites would be launched by Indian launch vehicles in the next two years, as part of the collaboration in space technology.

Owen also sought to dispel the impression that Sino-Indian trade was growing rapidly at the cost of Indo-US trade. He said thay while Indi's trade with China was growing fast, Indo-US trade had more than doubled from 20 billion dollars to $42 billion dollars in the last three years.

He said this would again doubles in thre or four years, though the US target  was to to take to 100 billion dollars.

He said American companies are responding to Indian competitive tender for military hardware and fighter aircrafts like F-16 and F-18, which would boost defence collaboration between India and the US, with American companies opting for co-production with Indian companies.