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Biden looks to Modi to help move global agenda forward: US dy NSA
When he sees the world around him, President Joe Biden looks to India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help carry the load and take forward the global agenda, US deputy national security adviser Jonathan Finer has said.
When he sees the world around him, President Joe Biden looks to India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help carry the load and take forward the global agenda, US deputy national security adviser Jonathan Finer has said.
Citing India’s intervention at the G20 summit in Bali as an instance of how, in real time, PM Modi was instrumental in forging consensus among countries, Finer said that the geopolitical, cultural, commercial and diaspora ties between the two countries — besides the ties of leadership — make India not just among the most consequential partnerships for the US, but also a rare issue of bipartisan support and continuity in an otherwise divided Washington.
Finer was speaking at India House — the residence of the Indian ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu — at an event held on Sunday to showcase India’s religious and cultural diversity and festivals.
The event had high-level participation from the White House. Besides Finer, US surgeon general Vivek Murthy, Biden’s senior adviser and staff secretary Neera Tanden, and Biden’s energy coordinator Amos Hochstein attended the event. Aruna Miller, Maryland’s new lieutenant governor, the first Indian-American to be elected to this state-level position, and Niraj Antani, Republican state senator in Ohio, were also present.
Linking his personal interest in foreign affairs to his travels and stay in India 23 years ago, Finer said: “2022 was a huge year in US-India relations and we have a bigger year ahead.” Listing out the key markers for 2023, Finer said the two countries will engage in the Quad leaders summit; US will support India’s G20 presidency; the foreign and defence ministers 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 is just the tip of the iceberg. And it is really emblematic of how the US-India relationship has proceeded.”
Finer, who was representing the White House at the event, said that Biden saw the relationship with India as one of the most consequential for the US; there remained great potential; and the US was deeply committed to it. In a reference to the partisan battles that mark the political environment in Washington, the US deputy NSA pointed out how there was bipartisan support and continuity when it came to the relationship with India.
“There is obviously an increasing alignment of our interests, both geopolitically and as the world’s leading democracies.” Finer also acknowledged the diaspora, cultural and commercial ties and then spoke of the direct connect between leaders.
“I don’t want this to be lost. And there is ties of our leadership, which we consider to be hugely important. Looking around the world, when 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 are very high up on the list.”
Finer said this was witnessed in real time at the G20 summit in Bali where the PM was “instrumental in forging a consensus around a joint statement among a far-flung group of countries” and in the comments the PM made in highlighting the increasing risk related to nuclear issues. PM Modi’s formulation that this was “not an era of war” emerged as the point of consensus amid geopolitical because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Finer said that the US was “very excited” about what lay ahead in the relationship, while Sandhu pointed out the increasing dynamism of India’s economic story and the leaps in the India-US relationship across domains. Biden and Modi have met 15 times (in-person and virtually) and US secretary of state Antony Blinken and external affairs minister S Jaishankar have met over 30 times since January 2021, the ambassador said.
