'PM Modi, President Trump have a very strong relationship, deep respect for each other': Ambassador Kwatra

Washington DC [US], April 24 : Indian Ambassador to the United States, Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Thursday highlighted the various pillars of partnership between India and the United States and noted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump share bonhomie which is reflected in the wide-ranging cooperation between New Delhi and Washington.

He made the remarks while speaking at the Hudson Institute's The New India Conference.

While describing the government-to-government connection between India and the United States, Ambassador Kwatra said, "Prime Minister Modi on our side, and President Trump Both of them have a very strong relationship, deep respect for each other, even friendship. That translates into a wide-ranging cooperation between our two countries."

He also spoke about the plurilateral initiatives between the two countries with an emphasis on QUAD and IMEC and also recalled the India-US 10-year defense framework, which was signed last year.

He noted how trade stands as one of the strongest segments of the partnership.

"We have the largest bilateral flow of capital between our two economies...We are currently at about $200 billion a year, and the objective, which was announced during Prime Minister's visit to the White House in February last year, is to achieve Mission 500, which is $500 billion by the by the end of this decade."

He noted how nuclear technology, critical minerals and artificial intelligence are some of the areas where there is a strong sense of partnership.

"Critical minerals is an area of strong partnership between us; the strategic objective, which is to build resilience for both our economies so that in the supply of critical minerals, no country holds us hostage to the supply to constrain our economic growth."

Calling the people-to-people exchanges a "bedrock" of ties, he highlighted how the contact between India and the US is not only rooted in the two societies, but also the institutions across the two countries, whether it is the bipartisan congressional support, or the connect of the community of think tanks.

Noting how India is at the cusp of transformation and positive changes, he said that the goal of Viksit Bharat 2047 is being realized through policy changes and actions India is taking.

"I must mention that the target is not just an articulation of an objective. It is an empirical objective which has backward linkages to the policy choices and the actions that we are taking today with absolute measurable metrics year after year so that we know each year we are meeting that milestone which would help us reach. It's also vision which is measurable, which we are determined to achieve as we go forward".

"New India is a story of great excitement, great opportunity", he said.

He added, "We are quite confident that with this focus, with these transformations, and our international partnerships, particularly with the United States, we would prevail in advancing our economic growth and prosperity and achieving that New India aim that we have for ourselves politically, economically, technologically, and reach that goal of Viksit Bharat 2047".

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