US ambassador to India announces resignation for personal and professional reasons

The US ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer, announced his resignation Thursday after two years in the key diplomatic post, citing both personal and professional reasons.

"When I accepted this job two years ago, I told President Barack Obama that I would serve for two years but that family considerations would be front and centre after that," Roemer said in a statement released by the US embassy.

He also stated that he had accomplished the strategic objectives set out when he was appointed. "The US-India relationship - what my friend President Obama calls the defining partnership of the 21st century - has progressed to the global stage," he said.

The statement said the ambassador would formally leave his post in June.

Relations between Delhi and Washington, characterized by mistrust and occasional hostility during the Cold War, were reset by former US president Bill Clinton in the 1990s and invigorated by his successor George W. Bush.

Obama visited India last November as part of an Asian tour that reflected the rapid growth in India's economy and a shift in power to emerging nations as a result of the global financial crisis, which has hit Western countries hard.