New Delhi

Applauding US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on civil nuclear and defence agreements, an influential Indian-American Congressman today said the deals would make billions of dollars in trade possible for American companies.

“The nuclear deal announced today makes billions of dollars in trade possible for US companies that want to build and invest in India,” said Congressman Ami Bera, part of the presidential delegation to India.

“That creates jobs in the US and helps grow our economy,” Bera said in a statement.

Bera is the only Indian-American lawmaker in the current Congress and the third ever.

He said: “This is a deal we have been hoping to make for quite some time, and getting it done is another historic step forward in the US-India relationship.”

“Continued cooperation in defence also benefits both democracies as we deal with terrorism around the world.”

The two-term Democratic Congressman from California is the current co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans — the largest country-specific caucus in the US House of Representatives.

A proponent of strengthening United States’ strategic and trading relationship with India and Asia, Bera is a member of the House Foreign Affairs committee and is working to open Asian markets to California products to create new jobs.

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