Washington: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that India and the Unites States are making an effort to translate the shared convictions and values to partnership and cooperation and termed the growing Indo-American community a key partner in this endeavor.

"The Indian-American community is a vibrant and dynamic factor in the deepening friendship between India and the United States," Singh said in a message to the annual conference of the Indo-American Friendship Council last night (July 20,2004).

He said that he was happy to extend his greetings "to you all" as the key participants in the effort underway in both India and the US to convert "our shared convictions and values to partnership and cooperation across a wider canvas". "The presence of members of the US Congress at the gathering in Washington is testimony to the place which the community has earned in the social, political and economic life of the United States," he said.

Several Senators and Congressmen at the gathering stressed the need for peace between India and Pakistan, with the US playing not the role of a mediator but of a facilitator, but pointed out that peace would remain a dream unless Pakistan ends cross-border terrorism.

Many members of the flourishing community also used the opportunity to express grief at the death of over 90 children in a school fire in Tamil Nadu's Kumbakonam district recently and conveyed their sympathy to their families. Earlier, AICC (All India Congress Committee) president Sonia Gandhi said in her message that Congress, which heads the ruling coalition, was committed to strengthening the Indo-US relationship and expanding the bilateral cooperation.