US President Joe Biden on Friday said at a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the relationship between the two countries is “destined to be stronger, closer and tighter”, and the Indian leader rolled out a 10-year road map for growing ties based on Four Ts — talent, technology, trade, and trusteeship.

The two were meeting for the first time since Biden took office, and it is one of the most crucial engagements for Prime Minister Modi who is on a three-day visit to the US.

The President went on to express optimism about the relationship, saying that he has long believed — even back in 2006 — that by 2020, India and the United States will be “among the closest nations in the world”.

The two leaders have spoken on the phone several times, and have participated in virtual meetings.

They displayed an easy level of comfort with each other, which was visible immediately when President Biden began recounting a story he has told many times before — of people in India with the same surname “Biden”. Modi took it forward this time and said that since Biden last told him about it, he got some research done into it and he now brought along some genealogy documents for the president.

“Your leadership will certainly play an important role in how this decade is shaped. The seeds have been sown for an even stronger friendship between India and the US,” the PM told Biden.

“Today we’re launching a new chapter in the history of US-Indian ties, and taking on some of the toughest challenges we face together, starting with a shared commitment to end the Covid pandemic,” Biden added.

Biden said he and Modi will discuss what more can be done to end the pandemic and take on climate challenges that the world faces, and ensure stability Indo-Pacific, including with partners of the Quad, which was scheduled to hold its first in-person summit meeting later in the day.

Afghanistan, economic cooperation and trade will also figure in their talks, officials said.

Biden also said the relationship was more than a partnership between the two countries and included “family ties”, alluding to the four million Indian-Americans.

Pointing to Mahatma Gandhi’s upcoming birth anniversary next week, the US president said people should be reminded that his “message of non-violence, respect, tolerance, matters today maybe more than ever”.

In the morning, the US President tweeted about the upcoming bilateral and said: “I look forward to strengthening the deep ties between our two nations, working to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific, and tackling everything from Covid-19 to climate change.”

Prime Minister Modi spoke of the decade starting 2021 as a transformative period for ties between the two countries.

Modi then went on to unveil his four-Ts road map: He spoke first of the talent of Indian-Americans that Biden had referred to in his remarks.

“When I look at the importance of this decade, and the role that is going to be played by this talent of the Indian Americans, I find that the people to people talent will play a greater role and Indian talent will be a full partner in this relationship,” he said.

Technology, the second T, he said, will be the “most important driving force” and technology that is going to be for the service and for the use of humanity.

Trade, the third T, will continue to assume importance in the relationship, the Prime Minister said, adding: “We find that the trade between our two countries are actually complementary”.

“There are things that you have and there are things that we have, and then we in fact complement each other. I find that the area of trade during this decade, that is also going to be tremendously important,” he stressed.

The fourth T: trusteeship, a concept advocated by Mahatma Gandhi, who, Modi said, “used to talk about the principle of trusteeship, trusteeship of the planet”.

He added that the sentiment of trusteeship would assume increased importance globally and also in relations between India and the US.”

Richard Rossow, head of India studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said though the public remarks had “less flash than President Trump’s public engagements with Prime Minister Modi, it reflects a return to normal diplomacy. Not simply for its sober, friendly tone, but also the fact that the leaders are focused on the global partnership. This appeared less transactional than recent summits. Of course, the public session has less importance than what might be announced after the formal bilateral later today.”

He also noted that Biden did not use the remarks to “directly raise growing concerns in Washington about human rights interest in India. He reiterated our shared interest but did not turn this into a potential point of friction”.

Atman Trivedi, a former Obama administration official who is now a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center, said, “The two leaders meeting in person, separately and with the Quad, presents a rare opportunity to take advantage of the growing strategic convergence in the Indo-Pacific, while working on the most consequential challenges of our times, from Covid-19 to climate change to cybersecurity.”