The Indo-US relationship has evolved into a "comprehensive partnership of mutual trust and confidence" and the two countries are prepared to take it to a "new level" during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit in Washington, Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar has said.

Speaking at the prestigious James Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Houston's Rice University, Shankar said the financial partnership will be a source of strength for the two nations at a moment of global economic uncertainty.

"We are at an exciting moment of hope and opportunity, as Prime Minister Singh and President (Barack) Obama prepare to build on the progress we have made to take the relationship to a new level," the Indian Ambassador here, said last week.

In her keynote address on "India and the United States: A Partnership for Prosperity", Shankar said the heart of the two leaders' effort will be to create a framework that unleashes the energy and enterprise of people, to build a relationship that will make the two nations safer and more prosperous and also help address the global challenges faced by them.

She said the historic civil nuclear agreement inked last year has been as much a symbol as an instrument of transformation in Indo-US relationship.

Singh will be here on November 24 for the first state visit of Obama Administration.

The Indian Ambassador said: "Beyond the civil nuclear agreement our ties have become genuinely broad-based... The extraordinary breadth of our engagement has taken us into hitherto uncharted territories, including defence, intelligence and counter-terrorism cooperation."

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