PM Modi addresses US Congress

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed the joint meeting of the US Congress. While speaking at the meet, Modi called for a closer security relationship between his country and the United States, stressing the importance of the warm relationship between the two countries.

"The fight against terrorism has to be fought at many levels. And, the traditional tools of military, intelligence or diplomacy alone would not be able to win this fight," Modi said in remarks prepared for delivery to a rare joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives.

"We have both lost civilians and soldiers in combating it. The need of the hour is for us to deepen our security cooperation," Modi said. 

In a speech interrupted by repeated applause, Modi did not mention India's neighbors Pakistan or China specifically, but said the deeper U.S.-Indian security cooperation should isolate anyone who harbors, supports or sponsors terrorists, and separate religion from terrorism.

With navigation in Asian waters, such as disputes over the South China Sea, a major regional concern, Modi said a stronger U.S.-India partnership could boost peace and prosperity.

"It can also help ensure security of the sea lanes and commerce and freedom of navigation on seas," Modi added.

He also stressed that India is committed to helping rebuild a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, even as he said he considers terrorism the biggest threat in Afghanistan as well as elsewhere in South Asia. 

Modi is the fifth Indian Prime Minister to do so and the first one in about a decade. Before him, Indian political leaders like Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh had addressed this meeting. 

Earlier today, while speaking at a gala hosted by the US-India Business Council, Modi called upon rich nations to open up their economies to goods and services from emerging countires like India as they seek to make world-class merchandise not just for themselves but also for the entire globe.

Also, office bearers of USIBC said their members have already invested $28 billion in India since September 2014 and that another $45 billion was in the pipeline, even by a conservative estimate.

Modi is on his fourth leg of five-nation tour, reached Washington on Monday afternoon.

More to follow..

(With Reuters inputs)