Washington, DC

 Ambassador Nirupama Rao met the Mayor of Los Angeles, Mr. Antonio Villaraigosa on November 14, 2011 during her recent visit to Los Angeles. 

 Mayor Villaraigosa has been leading Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States, since 2005. He is also the current President of the United States Conference of Mayors.  

 Mayor Villaraigosa welcomed Ambassador Rao to Los Angeles and appreciated that she chose to visit the city within a few months of arriving in the U.S.   He spoke of the important role played by Los Angeles in driving the economy of California and the U.S., and highlighted the city's interest in closely working with India. He said that the future of Los Angeles was connected to the East and to the Asia-Pacific, including India.  He also referred to the sister-city relationship between Los Angeles and Mumbai. 

 Ambassador Rao thanked Mayor Villaraigosa for the warm welcome and noted the growing momentum of India-US relations built upon shared values and interests.  She said that there was tremendous scope for strengthening ties between India and Los Angeles in diverse areas including high and clean technology, health, entertainment and education.  Mayor Villaraigosa mentioned that the emergence of Los Angeles as the center for clean technology offered significant opportunities for cooperation with India.  Ambassador Rao also noted India's interest in learning from Los Angeles' experience in mega city policing in the context of India-U.S. counter-terrorism cooperation.

 Ambassador Rao invited Mayor Villaraigosa to visit India. He accepted the invitation and expressed interest in visiting India sometime in 2012. 

 Consul General of India in San Francisco, Mr. N. Parthasarathi accompanied Ambassador Rao to her meeting with Mayor Villaraigosa.