President Barack Obama swept aside past friction with India on Sunday to report progress on climate change and civilian nuclear power cooperation as he sought to transform a fraught relationship marked by suspicion into an enduring partnership linking the world’s oldest and largest democracies.
Kicking off a three-day visit rich in symbolism and pageantry, Obama emerged from hours of discussions with his counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with what he called “a breakthrough understanding” to finally overcome years of deadlock that have prevented American firms from building nuclear reactors here, a key goal of the trip.