In a fresh bid to make India an enduring strategic partner, US President Barack Obama landed in New Delhi on Sunday for a highly symbolic visit and to nurture friendship with a prime minister who a year ago was persona non grata in Washington.

Obama will be the first US president to attend India’s Republic Day parade, a show of military might long associated with the anti-Americanism of the Cold War, and will host a radio show with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

His presence at Monday’s procession at Modi’s personal invitation is the latest revival in a roller-coaster relationship between the two largest democracies that just a year ago was in tatters.

“I’d like to think the stars are aligned to finally realise the vision (of) India and America as true global partners,” Obama said in an interview with India Today, a weekly magazine, published on Friday.

Modi greeted Obama and his wife, Michelle, on the tarmac of the airport in New Delhi as they came down the steps from Air Force One. The two leaders hugged each other warmly.

The two sides have worked to reach agreements on climate change, taxation and defence cooperation in time for the visit. Talks on a hoped-for deal on civil nuclear trade went down to the wire with no clear solution at the weekend.

The United States views India as a vast market and potential counterweight to China’s assertiveness in Asia, but frequently grows frustrated with the slow pace of economic reforms and unwillingness to side with Washington in international affairs.

India would like to see a new US approach to Pakistan.

“Particularly with regards to security, and we would like a much greater understanding with the United States with regards to regional issues,” India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Davos ahead of Obama’s visit.

Elected last May, Modi has injected a new vitality into the economy and foreign relations and, to Washington’s delight, begun pushing back against China’s growing presence in South Asia.

Annual bilateral trade of $100 billion is seen as vastly below potential and Washington wants it to grow fivefold.

The White House said Obama will depart slightly early from India to travel to Saudi Arabia following the death of King Abdullah, instead of a planned visit to the Taj Mahal.