So what does - for India and for the United States and for the world, what does this global leadership mean in practical terms? And what does it mean for the relationship between the two of us? Well, for starters, it means that we can work more productively together on today's most complex global challenges. For example, to advance democratic values, the world's oldest democracy and its largest can both support the democratic transitions taking place in the Middle East and North Africa.
India's election commission, widely viewed as the global gold standard for running elections - (applause) - is already sharing best practices with counterparts in other countries, including Egypt and Iraq. To help rebalance the global economy after the recession of 2008 and to spur growth, India and the United States are working together through the G-20 which has become the premier forum for international economic cooperation. To promote clean energy and to seek climate change solutions, this partnership that we have launched will accelerate research and deployment of effective technology, but it will also enable us to work together to make the UN Conference on Climate Change coming up in Durban a success.
India was a very constructive partner to the United States and others at both the conferences in Copenhagen and Cancun, where we're not making enough progress, but we could put some milestones of progress and ongoing processes together to continue our efforts. To curb nuclear proliferation, we are working together with the international community to address shared concerns about provocative actions by countries like Iran. We have called for Iran to meet its international obligations at the IAEA. India has taken steps to ensure that products from your high-tech industry cannot be diverted to that nuclear weapons program. And we work with India, who is currently a nonpermanent member of the Security Council, to persuade Iran's leaders to change course. And to promote sustainable development, the United States is encouraging India to share broadly its expertise in dry field, drought-tolerant agriculture, and to apply other lessons about how to lift millions of people out of extreme poverty.
So in these and many other areas, from democracy to economics, climate change, nonproliferation, development, our interests align and our values converge. A great deal has already been written about our efforts to collaborate on these cross-cutting global challenges, but today, I want to focus on two aspects of our cooperation, where the choices we make in the immediate term will have profound impacts on our security and prosperity in the years ahead. First, our work together in the Asia Pacific, and second, our shared interests in South and Central Asia, because this is a moment when these regional concerns have profound global resonance. And as I discussed them in depth with officials in Delhi yesterday, I'd like to explore them further with you today.
And let me start with the Asia Pacific. There is no better place to discuss India's leadership in the region to its east than here in Chennai. In this port city, looking out at the Bay of Bengal and beyond to the nations of East and Southeast Asia, we are easily reminded of India's historic role in the wider region. For thousands of years, Indian traders have sailed those waters of Southeast Asia and beyond. Indian culture has left its mark. The temples of Angkor Wat bear the influence of Tamil architecture. The Hindu god Ganesh still stands guard against homes in Indonesia. And today, the stretch of sea from the Indian Ocean through to the Pacific contain the world's most vibrant trade and energy routes linking economies and driving growth.
The United States has always been a Pacific power because of our very great blessing of geography. And India straddling the waters from the Indian to the Pacific Ocean is, with us, a steward of these waterways. We are both deeply invested in shaping the future of the region that they connect. And there are big questions for us to consider. Will this region adopt basic rules of the road or rules of the sea to mobilize strategic and economic cooperation and manage disagreements? Will it build the regional architecture of institutions and arrangements to enforce international norms on security, trade, rule of law, human rights, and accountable governance? Through its Look East policy, India is poised to help lead toward the answers to these questions.
The United States believes that is a very good thing because we believe our vision for the future is very much similar. We both wish to expand economic ties. The United States is pushing forward on comprehensive trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership and our free trade agreement with South Korea. We are also stepping up our commercial diplomacy and pursuing a robust economic agenda at APEC. India, for its part, has concluded or will soon conclude new bilateral economic partnerships with Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and others. The more our countries trade and invest with each other and with other partners, the more central the Asia Pacific region becomes to global commerce and prosperity, and the more interest we both have in maintaining stability and security. As the stakes grow higher, we should use our shared commitment to make sure that we have maritime security and freedom of navigation. We need to combat piracy together. We have immediate tasks that we must get about determining.
