New York, May 27 (INN): Calling India-US ties as one of the major relationships in the world, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said the challenge before New Delhi and Washington is how to translate their fundamental, societal and geopolitical convergences into actionable policies.
Jaishankar, in a virtual conversation with former US National Security Adviser, General HR McMaster in the ‘Battlegrounds’ session presented by the Hoover Institution, said that he has a “big agenda” for the US-India relationship going forward.
“I think our relationship has come a long way. It’s today one of the major relationships in the world and my own sense is that in Washington today, there is a real appreciation of the potential of this relationship, what it can do. And it’s true of New Delhi as well,” said the Minister.
“The challenge for us keeping in mind lot of the issues that have been brought up in the conversation, impact of pandemic, rise of different powers, today we all recognise that it’s not for 1 or 2 or 3 countries to decide how the world will be,” he stated.
“The world today is truly multipolar and when it is so it is all the more important for countries to learn how to work with each other more effectively,” he said observing that there is a sea-change in American mind-set in this regard.
“So the United States has not only an enormous ability to reinvent itself, it also has a great ability to assess its situation and re-strategise in a way,” he noted.
“When it comes to the big issues of the day, maybe because we are pluralistic societies, because we are political democracies, because we are market economies, that we have fundamental convergences,” Jaishankar explained.
He said these convergences are societal and geopolitical. I think the challenge before us is how to translate those convergences into actionable policies, he said, adding that he certainly looks forward to working on these with the Biden administration.
External Affairs Minister Jaishankar is on a visit to the United States from 24-28 May.
He arrived in New York on Sunday and met UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. He travelled to Washington on Wednesday, where he is expected to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Jaishankar is also scheduled to meet US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, other senior officials of the Biden Administration, influential lawmakers, think-tanks, leaders of the corporate sector and members of the Indian American community.
This is the first visit by a senior Indian minister to the US after President Joe Biden assumed office in January.
India Tribune, as an English weekly newspaper, was launched in 1977 in Chicago by its publisher Prashant Shah with a lofty ideal to serve the Asian Indian community in the USA. Over the years, it has grown with all vigor, and now it is being published in three editions – Chicago, New York and Atlanta. India Tribune, a journal of its kind for the family in the USA, has been a household name for many Indians for over three decades with each issue commanding a readership of over 125,000.
