WASHINGTON // Indian prime minister Narendra Modi arrived at the White House yesterday, in the latest stop on his headline-grabbing debut tour of the world after his Hindu nationalist party’s crushing election win.

President Barack Obama welcomed Mr Modi to the Oval Office for talks that both sides hoped would overcome niggling differences and revive a partnership that both see as vital, but which has been under strain in recent years.

Speaking at the end of their two days of talks at the White House, Mr Obama and Mr Modi said the US and India are ready to expand economic, energy and security cooperation in order to spur growth in both nations.

Mr Modi said his US visit “has reinforced my conviction that India and the United States are natural global partners”.

He said he’s confident of India’s rapid economic growth and will focus his government on making it easier to do business in India, particularly for US companies helping develop to the Indian defence industry. Mr Modi said he asked Mr Obama’s help in giving Indian service companies access to the US market.

Mr Obama said the two also discussed “security challenges” that include the ISIL militant group in Iraq and Syria, trade and climate change.

“We have so much in common it is critical to deepen and broaden the friendship that already exists,” Mr Obama said.

Mr Modi acutually made his debut at the White House on Monday night, when he attended a private dinner hosted by Mr Obama at the ornate Blue Room of the presidential residence.

White House chefs served up crisp Halibut in ginger carrot sauce, though Mr Modi had given advance notice that he would not eat as he was in the middle of an annual religious fast.

Yesterday, Mr Modi re-staged his arrival for the cameras, driving in a black sports utility vehicle with US and Indian flags flying from the fenders, up to the West Wing of the White House through a US military colour guard.

In an op-ed article in The Washington Post, Mr Modi and Mr Obama lauded the partnership between the two democracies, but said there was much more to come.

“The true potential of our relationship has yet to be fully realised,” they wrote.

“The advent of a new government in India is a natural opportunity to broaden and deepen our relationship.”

Mr Modi warmed up for the White House visit by basking in a rock star welcome in New York, speaking to thousands of members of the Indian diaspora at the Madison Square Garden sports arena and addressing the United Nations.

Indian American activists have pressed for years to rehabilitate the image of Mr Modi, who was denied a visa to the US in 2005 on human rights grounds over anti-Muslim riots in his home state of Gujarat.

Mr Modi denies wrongdoing and was never charged over the violence that killed more than 1,000 people.

Since he took office, Washington has made strenuous efforts to court the new Indian leader, sending several cabinet-level delegations to New Delhi and pushing for an early visit to the US by the new prime minister.

US officials see India as a fulcrum of Mr Obama’s policy of rebalancing US foreign policy towards Asia, and a potential counter to the other rising regional giant, China.

Mr Modi has already visited Japan since taking office and has welcomed Chinese president Xi Jinping to New Delhi.

US officials have welcomed Mr Modi’s vows to slash the red tape around India’s economy and his overtures to business leaders who have long chafed at restrictions on foreign investment in the country.

But Washington is concerned about New Delhi’s recent move to block a key WTO pact that would streamline customs procedures and boost global commerce.

Mr Modi said on Monday he was in favour of unfettered trade, but said commerce must enhance India’s capacity to feed its most impoverished citizens and to protect its emerging middle class.

He said that despite some differences with Washington, the wider relationship could still improve.

“It is not necessary we should have comfort in everything. Even between a husband and wife, there is never 100 per cent comfort,” Mr Modi said at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Indian foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said the two sides would also discuss the future of Afghanistan and the global fight against militant groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIL.

Mr Modi issued a public warning to the US on Monday not to repeat its mistake in Iraq by pulling out of Afghanistan too soon.

“Because after such a rapid withdrawal in Iraq, [and] what happened there, the withdrawal process in Afghanistan should be very slow,” he said.

Both sides are eager to repair the damage inflicted by a recent series of spats, including a crisis last December when US authorities arrested and then strip-searched an Indian diplomat in New York for allegedly mistreating her housekeeper.

US officials have insisted that a lawsuit levelled against Mr Modi by a human rights group in New York over the Gujarat massacre would not detract from the visit. As a foreign head of government, Mr Modi enjoys diplomatic immunity.

* Agence France-Press an Bloomberg