With an aim to safeguard mutual interests in long term, India and the US are all set to strengthen their strategic partnership. “Having embarked on transformative economic programmes, the US sees great potential for doing business with India and to work for India’s rise as an economic powerhouse,” India’s Ambassador to the US Arun Singh said. The statement from the envoy comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington for the Nuclear Security Summit to be held on March 31.
The US has emerged as India’s largest trading partner in goods and services, with a total trade volume of $120 billion. The two countries are trying to increase trade to $500 billion in the next few years. India sees the US as an indispensible partner in achieving its ambitious goals. India has been wooing investors for its flagship programmes such as smart cities, Make in India, Digital India and renewable energy. One of the major aims of the Indian government is to attract foreign investments in infrastructure sector.
“By investing in Indian economy, the US has pledged its friendship to a country where 800 million youth under the age of 35 years are impatient for change and eager to achieve it,” Mr Singh said during his address at the 20th Wharton India Economic Forum on “Evolving India-US Relations.”
Speaking about the future Mr Singh said: “Going forward, it is certain that India and the US will look at each other with greater degree of understanding than in the past.” Focusing on people to people contact and the progress in relations between the two countries he emphasised that “public opinion in each country about the other, particularly among the youth, has shifted clearly in a favourable direction. “However, we need to remain alive to the challenges of managing an expanding relationship without sufficient past history of deep engagement,” he said.
In a realistic message to the members at the forum, Mr Singh spoke about how problems and differences will inevitably arise from time to time and said: “They will need to be addressed and managed keeping in mind mutual interests and a longer team framework.” Mr Singh also recalled President Barack Obama calling the India-US relationship as a ‘defining partnership of the 21st Century’ a few years ago. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi too has termed the India-US partnership as a ‘natural alliance,” he added.
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