Geopolitical basket, people-to-people ties key drivers of stronger US-India relationship: Jaishankar

Noting that US and India should "think bigger" as they work with trade issues, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said that the "geopolitical basket" and "people-to-people ties" were the two drivers of a stronger bilateral relationship and each one is a game-changer in itself.

Speaking at a session in India Ideas Summit, Jaishankar said that there were about four million Indian-Americans in the US and that has given new "quality" to the relationship and has created a "bonding" between the two societies.

"For Indo-US relations, we need to think beyond trade. I learnt it a long time back that these are bread and butter issues. This is how countries deal with each other," Jaishankar said.

"While we work with trade issue we need to think bigger. Last few years have been dominated by your complaints and our complaint... We need to resolve the pending issues and move on to something bigger," he said.

The minister said there is a need to focus on knowledge and innovation connect.

"There are two big baskets to the issue we should be looking at. These are two drivers of a stronger relationship -- one is the geopolitical basket and other is people-to-people ties. Each one is game-changer in themselves and they reinforce each other. They have the potential to create a durable relationship between India and the US," he said.

Jaishankar said that India has changed as a country adding that capabilities are emerging in India and it is mastering new domains.

"One important point is that India has changed as a country. There are new capabilities which are emerging in India, they are domains where we have mastery and presence. It now has new areas where it can make its presence felt," he said.

"Established players generally want the rules that benefit them to stay that way. In a fair manner, genuine concerns of emerging players should also be considered," the minister added.

The session was also attended by US Senator Mark Warner.

The minister said that the United States has to learn to work in a more multi-polar world and with more plurilateral arrangements

"I think the US really has to learn to work with a more multi-polar world with more plurilateral arrangements, go beyond alliances with which it has grown up in the last two generations," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )