iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer said that in the history of India-US ties if 2022 has been huge then 2023 will be bigger. Finer was speaking on India-US ties at a gathering of Indian-Americans in Washington on Sunday.
“The year 2022 was huge in US-India relations. We think we have an even bigger year ahead in 2023. We have the Quad summit on the agenda coming up. We have India’s G20 presidency, which I know we’re all looking forward to, including Prime Minister Modi,” Finer said at the event organized by the Embassy of India.
Finer proceeded to illustrate what he meant by “bigger” – US and India will participate in the Quad leaders’ summit, the US will support India’s G20 presidency; the foreign and defense ministers of the two nations will meet at their annual 2+2 dialogue; the CEOs dialogue will get relaunched, and there will be a dialogue on critical and emerging technologies. “And this,” he said, “is just the tip of the iceberg. And it is really emblematic of how the US-India relationship has proceeded.”
Speaking for the President at the event, Finer added that Biden saw the relationship with India as one of the most consequential for the US; there is great potential, and the US is deeply committed to it. “There is obviously an increasing alignment of our interests, both geopolitically and as the world’s leading democracies.” Finer also acknowledged the diaspora, and cultural and commercial ties and then spoke of the direct connect between leaders.
“I don’t want this to be lost. And there are ties of our leadership, which we consider to be hugely important. Looking around the world, when the US and President Biden look for partners who can truly help carry the load and truly move forward a global agenda, India and Prime Minister Modi is very high up on the list.” Finer said this was witnessed in realtime at G20 (at Bali) where the PM was “instrumental in forging a consensus around a joint statement among a far-flung group of countries.”
Finer said, “Looking around the world when the US and President Biden look for partners that can truly help carry the load, truly helped move forward a global agenda, India and PM Modi is very high on that list.”
“We just saw this in real-time at the G-20 where the Indian PM was instrumental in forging a consensus around a joint statement among a far-flung group of countries and in the comments and work that the prime minister has done and others in the Indian government have done to highlight the increased risk related to nuclear issues,” he added.
India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, also spoke at the event. He said that this relationship between India and the US is being steered by PM Modi and President Joe Biden. Organized by the Embassy of India to showcase the syncretic nature of Indian culture, the event was attended by top US officials including Senior Advisor to President Neera Tanden and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.
Murthy talked about his roots and the future of the India-US health partnership, while the newly elected lieutenant governor of Maryland, the first Indian-American to be elected to this office, Aruna Miller, spoke about how Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent struggle inspired Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement, which in turn opened the doors for both the Voting Rights Act and subsequently the lifting of race-based immigration restrictions.
