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Barack and I: Modi stresses personal chemistry
New Delhi, Jan 25
Talking glowingly about his
"good friendship" with US President Barack Obama and how it had brought
the people of India and US closer, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
addressed him by his first name "Barack" more than once while Obama, in
response, was less informal and addressed him as "Modi" or "prime
minister".
"Barack and I have forged a friendship. There is openness when we talk on the phone and we also crack jokes," Modi said.
"This chemistry has brought Barack closer to me but also brought the people of India and America closer" he added.
"I'm
fairly new in this area but relations between countries depends less on
full stops, commas, and more on the personal chemistry between the
leaders. I think this chemistry is very important and will only grow,"
he said further.
Obama too agreed with Modi and said their friendship reflected the "warmth" between the two countries.
"In
addition to the personal friendship that we have built in a brief
amount of time we are reflecting the warmth between the people of India
and US," Obama said.
"We compared hours of sleep. It turns out
that Modi is even getting less sleep than me. That's because he is still
new," Obama said much to the amusement of the media persons.