India, April 22 -- US vice president JD Vance on Tuesday urged India to drop non-tariff barriers, provide access to its markets and buy more American energy and defence hardware even as he emphasised the importance of the two sides working together to ensure a peaceful and prosperous 21st century.

Delivering a speech on India-US relations at the Rajasthan International Centre, Vance was effusive in his praise of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he sought to strike a balance between the Trump administration's economic agenda and the goal of strengthening the partnership between Washington and New Delhi.

Speaking a day after his meeting with Modi in New Delhi, when the two sides announced "significant progress" in negotiations fo...