New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS): The third India-US Higher Education Dialogue, held here Monday, emphasised the key role of education and skills development in relationships between the people of the two countries.

"The two sides reiterated the importance of the Higher Education Dialogue to promote enhanced opportunities for student and scholar mobility and faculty collaboration between the United States and India, including our ongoing collaboration on community colleges," said a statement.

Both sides affirmed the importance of ongoing community college collaborations to meet Prime Minister Modi's national skills development goals.

They also encouraged the bi-national Task Force on Community Colleges that was convened earlier in the day to develop a plan for implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).

The dialogue was co-chaired by Satya N. Mohanty, Secretary, Higher Education, Ministry for Human Resource Development, and Richard Stengel, US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.