In India, Obama and Modi talk personal bond

NEW DELHI - Seizing on their personal bond, President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi voiced optimism Sunday that they could find common ground on defense, commerce and environmental issues. Obama said the two leaders had reached a "breakthrough understanding" in efforts to free U.S. investment in nuclear energy development in India.

Obama and Modi expressed hope that six years after a landmark nuclear agreement between the U.S. and India, the deal could begin to bear fruit.

The two countries had been at an impasse over U.S. insistence on tracking fissile material it supplies to India and over Indian liability provisions that have discouraged U.S. firms from capitalizing on a 2008 civil nuclear agreement between the U.S. and India.

The White House said the understanding on the India's civil nuclear program resolves the U.S. concerns on both tracking and liability.

"In our judgment, the Indians have moved sufficiently on these issues to give us assurances are resolved," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser.

Rhodes said it would still be up to U.S. companies to assess the market and decide whether they wanted to partake. He said neither country needed to take legislative action to complete the agreements the leaders reached Sunday. Both men said Obama's visit to India has been more than symbolic and yielded substantive progress on trade, defense and climate issues.

"Your election and your strong personal commitment to the US-India relationship gives us an opportunity to further energize these efforts," Obama said.

"Barack and I have formed a bond, a friendship," Modi said. "We can laugh and joke and talk easily on the phone. The chemistry that has brought Barack and me closer has also brought Washington and Delhi closer."

The two men spoke jointly after a day of pomp and meetings.

Modi greeted Obama with an elaborate welcome at the country's sprawling presidential palace. Obama solemnly laid a wreath at a memorial honoring the father of India's independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi.

On Monday, Obama was to be the guest of honor at India's Republic Day festivities, making him the first U.S. president to attend the anniversary of the enactment of country's democratic constitution.

In a move likely to take some of the symbolic shine off Obama's trip, the White House announced shortly before his departure from Washington that the president was canceling plans to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra. The president and first lady had planned to tour the famed white marble monument of love on Tuesday, but instead the Obamas will go to Saudi Arabia to pay respects to the royal family following the death of King Abdullah.