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Jaishankar, Blinken agree to build on solid foundation of India-US ties
The conversation, described by Jaishankar as “warm”, completed the first round of calls between the national security teams of India and the Joe Biden administration.
India and the US agreed to build on the “solid foundation” of bilateral ties, extern affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in a tweet on Friday after his first call with his American counterpart Antony Blinken.
The conversation, described by Jaishankar as “warm”, completed the first round of calls between the national security teams of India and the Joe Biden administration. National security advisers Ajit Doval and Jake Sullivan spoke on Wednesday, as did defence ministers Rajnath Singh and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austen.
“Warm conversation with Secretary of State @SecBlinken. Congratulated him on his appointment. Look forward to working with him again. Agreed that we could build further on the solid foundation of our partnership. Also discussed our efforts at combating the COVID-19 pandemic,” Jaishankar wrote in the tweet.
Jaishankar and Blinken have known each other for a while, going back to the latter’s previous tenure as deputy secretary of state in president Barack Obama’s administration. Blinken had visited India in December 2015.
Secretary of defence Austin had spoken of a “common interest in ensuring the Indo-Pacific region remains free and open” in a call with Rajnath Singh.
National Security Advisor Sullivan, a very close associate of the president, and Doval “discussed the importance of continuing close cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region”, according a readout of their call released by the White House.
Sullivan had also reaffirmed to Doval “President Biden’s commitment to a strong and enduring US-India strategic partnership based on our shared commitment to democracy”.
The Biden administration has signalled strong support for ties with India, and Blinken at his confirmation hearing had described India as a “bipartisan success story”, citing landmark achievements of the previous administration, and suggested climate could be a new area of cooperation.
“One area I think that has a lot of promise, and maybe even necessity, is actually climate,” Blinken said at his confirmation hearing by the Senate foreign relations committee. “At the current rate things are going, India is poised over the next two or three decades to catch up to China in terms of the emissions that it produces.”
“At the same time,” he added, “as you know, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi has been a very strong advocate for looking at renewable energy and different technologies, I think there’s a very strong potential for our countries to work together in that area.”
