DHAKA: US president Barack Obama and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi vowed on Monday to expand and deepen their countries' strategic partnership and make it a model for the rest of the world.

In a joint ‘vision statement’ issued after their first meeting at a White House dinner, the two leaders said they would work together ‘not just for the benefit of both our nations, but for the benefit of the world’, The Straits Times publishes this report on Tuesday.

They said their countries would cooperate on security and to fight terrorism and would back a ‘rules based’ global order in which India assumes greater multilateral responsibility, including a reformed UN Security Council.

They also vowed to work together against the threat posed by climate change and to cooperate to address the consequences of unchecked pollution.

BDST: 1417 HRS, SEP 30, 2014