Indo-US summit: The new Panchsheel

Washington: With the welcome ceremony for Indian prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh rained out, the red carpets were rolled out in the White House East Room instead, over which the host and the guest tip-toed gingerly to announce - in the words of the US president Barack Obama - a  ''defining partnership of the 21st century.''

With no big-ticket announcements lined up, both sides emerged from nearly two hours of talks and outlined the areas they had agreed on. These included counter-terror cooperation, an educational exchange programme dubbed the Obama-Singh knowledge initiative, defence cooperation, agriculture, and health and space technology.

It was hoped that the two sides would wrap up an agreement on nuclear fuel reprocessing, which would have been indicative of the commitment of both sides to firm up the civil nuclear deal, but as the Indian prime minister put it, ''...a few I's and T's remained to be crossed.'' 

President Obama compensated for lack of agreement with a declaration that his presidency was committed to operationalising the nuclear deal.

With Dr Singh due to return to the United States next year for a nuclear summit and president Obama announcing his acceptance of an invitation to visit India, it is clear that the Indo- US engagement will continue apace.

Matters were also helped considerably with Obama opening up a personal equation with the Indian prime minister, referring to Singh as a ''wise leader'' and a person of ''honesty and integrity''.