Washington, July 8 - Barack Obama's nominee to be his envoy in India has set taking the civil nuclear deal forward and breaking the impasse on the Doha Round as key priorities in forming a strategic partnership with New Delhi, saying the president had told him personally of his great interest in the 'US-India partnership'.

'What is so interesting and rewarding in the president nominating me for this position is the future,' Timothy Roemer, 52, a distinguished scholar and former Democratic congressman, told the Senate Foreign Relations panel at his confirmation hearing Tuesday.

'...the people-to-people relationships, the business-to-business relationships, the global possibilities of two great democracies moving forward and defining solutions to the biggest problems in the 21st century, and the strategic partnerships that can be formed,' he said.

Noting that the building of a relationship with India 'over the last several decades has been a bipartisan success,' Roemer said Obama had told him 'personally on a couple different occasions how interested he is in this issue of US-Indian partnerships.'

The president had also told him how successful his meeting went with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in London at the G-20, he said adding, 'I look forward to working with Secretary (of State Hillary) Clinton, who is very interested in travelling to India soon.'

Roemer, one of the early backers of Obama who is said to have played a key role in his electoral victory in Indiana, said in the midst of the global meltdown, one of the US priorities is to work to break the impasse on the Doha Round and facilitate fair and free trade to create jobs in the United States.

'This is a key issue, to break down barriers, to increase trade, trade that is increased from about $13 billion to over $44 billion in the last six years.'

The US also wanted to make sure that the legacy issues around the civilian-nuclear deal are resolved in a positive way so US businesses can get access to the nuclear-reactor parks in India and create jobs in the US.