US President Barack Obama on Tuesday said the relationship between US and India can be one of the defining partnerships of the century.

Addressing a gathering at Sirifort auditorium in New Delhi on Tuesday, he said, America wants to be India’s partner in protecting the health of the people and the beauty of the nation.

He also said that America wants to be a partner of India in farming, boosting incomes and civil nuclear agreements.

Obama said that the world will be safer the largest and oldest democracies stand together.

He added that a world without nuclear weapons should be goal for all. He also appreciated India’s effort for generating more clean energy.

Obama said, in recent years, India has lifted more people from poverty than any other country.

He cautioned that the two countries have to guard against any efforts to divide them on sectarian lines.

Underlining the factors that unify both the countries, Obama said “our diversity is our strength” and cautioned that both India and the US have to be on guard against divisive efforts along sectarian lines or any other lines.

“…If we do that well and if America shows itself as example of its diversity and the capacity to live and work together in common effort and common purpose and if India as massive as it is with so much diversity, so many differences, is able to continuously reaffirm its democracy so that is an example for every other country. That’s what makes us world leaders. Not just the size of our economies or the number of weapons we have but our ability to show the way and how we work together,” he said.

The US President picked Indian heroes like actor Shah Rukh Khan and sports icons like Milkha Singh and Mary Kom and Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi to make a point that courage and humanitarian values unify both the nations.

“By what Dr King (Martin Luther King Jr) called content of our character rather than the colour of our skin or the manner in which we worship our god. In both our countries, in India and Amercia, our diversity is our strength,” he said.

On Indo-US relations, Obama said, “India and the United States are not just natural partners — I believe that America can be India’s best partner.”

“Of course, only Indians can decide India’s role in the world,” he said, adding, “But I’m here because I am absolutely convinced that both our peoples will have more jobs and opportunity, our nations will be more secure, and the world will be a safer and more just place when our two democracies stand together.”

Obama also said the US supported India’s inclusion as a permanent member in the UN Security Council.

Against the backdrop of China exerting its influence in South China Sea, Obama said freedom of navigation must be upheld in the Asia Pacific and welcomed a greater role for India.

“The United States welcomes a greater role for India in the Asia Pacific, where the freedom of navigation must be upheld and disputes must be resolved peacefully,” he said.