Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday invited the United States to make defence equipment in India even as he conveyed to Washington his grave concern over the mainstreaming of terrorists like Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan.

At a meeting with US Vice-President Mike Pence in Singapore on the margins of the East Asia Summit, Modi pointed out that India was not only a substantial market but the way it was placed regionally, it could become a hub for defence exports to the rest of the region.

Briefing reporters on the meeting, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the two leaders agreed that there had been a substantial enhancement in the defence relationship between the two countries and in India’s imports from the US. Modi stressed that there was a great opportunity for the US to make defence equipment and set up defence industry in India.

With the 10th anniversary of the Mumbai carnage approaching soon, Modi referred to the participation of Hafiz Saeed’s political outfit in the general elections in Pakistan in July. The mainstreaming of those involved in the Mumbai attack in the political process should not just be a matter of concern to India and the US but to the entire international community, the PM added.

He pointed out to the American leader that one way or another, all the traces and all the leads in global terror attacks lead to a single source or a single place of origin, without directly naming Pakistan.

Pence also spoke about the anniversary of the Mumbai attack and in this context greatly appreciated the ongoing cooperation between India and the US on counter-terrorism. Both countries, he said, recognised the challenge posed by terrorism to democracies and were determined to fight the menace along with the rest of the global community.

Describing the meeting between the two leaders as ‘very positive’, Gokhale said they discussed bilateral issues as well as regional and global developments.

During discussions on energy cooperation, the PM noted that India was now importing oil and gas from the US and it was ready to increase the imports as a way of expanding bilateral trade.

Modi also took up the H-1B visas issue with Pence. He pointed out that Indians, when they go to the US, not only carry their talent and capacity to innovate but also their democratic values. Therefore, the value addition was not only in economic terms but also in building the political and social fabric of the US. The PM hoped that this aspect would be kept in mind by the US when it looked at the whole issue of H1B visas issue.

The two leaders also discussed the developments in the Indo-Pacific region. Modi referred to his speech in Singapore in June at the Shangri-La Dialogue in which he had outlined India’s vision of the Indo-Pacific.

Pence also spoke of a free and open Indo-Pacific. He felt that India’s contribution in ensuring this would be important. He was of the view that the two countries should strengthen cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region to ensure that this was an area of growth, prosperity, development and benefit for the countries of the region in the future.