indica News Bureau-
Welcoming the post-election statement of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on inclusivity, the United States on Thursday said that India-US relationship is headed for a positive trajectory under Modi 2.0 as the two leaders enjoy personal chemistry.
“We certainly welcome Prime Minister Modi’s post-election statements that have emphasized inclusivity that no one should be left behind, that there should be no distinction between Indian citizens, that the government should rule with the trust of everyone,” a senior State Department official said.
In an interaction with a group of reporters, the official said that BJP’s overwhelming victory was historic, and it was the first back to back wins since 1971. “It provided a clear mandate for Prime Minister Modi and for his vision of strong, inclusive and prosperous India that plays a leading role on the global stage,” the official said.
The recently concluded elections that resulted in the re-election of Modi, the official said was an extraordinary democratic lesson in which 600 million voters out of 900 million eligible voters, literally one in eight people living on this globe, participated, the official said.
Observing that there has been significant momentum in India US relationship under Modi, the official said the relationship see a very positive trajectory. “This is really a resilient partnership. It enjoys bipartisan support. It has the structures and it has a strategic commitment in place to take advantage of our leader’s vision. I anticipate a very positive trajectory moving forward,” said the Official.
As was evident in the tweets and the statements and the phone call after the elections, including messages from the President, the Vice President and the Secretary of State, the US looks forward to working with Prime Minister Modi and his government in the second term, the official said.
“We do expect that our strategic partnership will continue to flourish under his leadership,” the official said.
Noting that the president and the prime minister enjoy a warm relationship, the official said they enjoy personal chemistry. “You saw that when the prime minister was here in June of 2017. That means that the sort of the geopolitical compulsion to this relationship is matched by a personal leadership commitment to advance relations,” the official said.
According to the official, Trump and Modi will next see each other in Japan on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit. A trilateral meeting involving the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been planned in Osaka later next month, the official said.
The partnership encompasses cooperation on a broad range of economic, defense and security issues and stands on the foundation of what extensive people to people ties and shared democratic values, the official said.
“There’s been significant momentum in the relationship since the Prime Minister’s visit to Washington with the two plus two mechanisms that were developed last year. The meetings between our ministers of foreign affairs and defense, it will continue to serve as a strategic vehicle for our engagement with India,” the official said.
It capped off last year with the assigning of a secure communications agreement that was 10 years in the negotiations and represented a breakthrough and their ability to achieve military interoperability. “We are looking forward again to early high-level contact with the Modi 2.0 government. We will have the G-20 meeting opportunity between our heads of state,” the official said.
