New York [US], September 25 (ANI): United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday expressed strong admiration for India and said Washington is keen to expand energy cooperation with New Delhi in areas including natural gas, coal, nuclear energy, and clean cooking fuels.

'I am a huge fan of India. We love India. We look forward to more energy trade, more interactions back and forth with India,' Wright said while addressing a press conference at the New York Foreign Press Centre.

He acknowledged the geopolitical challenges India faces, particularly in relation to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and linked it to the global energy trade. 'India is caught up in the middle of another issue. President Trump's greatest passion is peace in the world...The Russian war in Ukraine, of course, is brutal. We all want to see it come to an end. But where does the sanctioned Russian oil go? It goes to China, India, and Turkiye, and that helps Russia fund that war. The friction on that issue,' he said.

Wright stressed that despite there are differences between Washington and New Delhi over the issue of Russian oil imports, the United States remains committed to strengthening energy ties with India.

'We want to bring that war to an end, I believe the Indians want to bring that war to an end, and we want to expand our energy cooperation with India in natural gas, coal, nuclear, clean cooking fuels, liquid petroleum gas...We want nothing more than more trade and energy cooperation with India,' he said.

He also called on India to reconsider its oil imports from Russia, emphasising that the United States does not intend to punish India but seeks to end the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

In response to a question from ANI on India-Russia oil trade, Wright said, 'There are lots of oil exporters in the world. India doesn't need to buy Russian oil. India buys Russian oil because it is cheaper. Nobody wants to buy Russian oil; they have to sell it at a discount. India has decided to make the trade-off to buy cheaper oil and look the other way, which is giving money to a guy who's murdering thousands of people every week.'

'We wish India would work with us to buy (oil). You can buy oil from every nation on earth, except Russian oil. That's our position. America has oil to sell, so does everybody else. We don't want to punish India. We want to end the war, and we want to grow our relations with India,' he added (ANI)