A senior American official says the India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (S&CD) will be an opportunity for the both countries to reflect upon the progress made under the outgoing Barack Obama administration and chart the path forward. The comment came ahead of India-US S&CD next week in New Delhi.
The US Secretary of State John Kerry and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker will be in New Delhi for the dialogue. “The S&CD presents an opportunity to really reflect upon where we have come and also chart a path forward on where we want to go and how we want to use this relationship,” a senior State Department official said.
Mr. Kerry and Pritzker is scheduled to co-chair the last Strategic and Commercial Dialogue under the Obama Administration along with their Indian counterparts the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. They will also be leading a team of top officials from 12 different government agencies.
“A joint vision statement on the Asia Pacific that was launched during President Obama’s historic Republic Day visit that the S&CD presents an opportunity to really reflect upon where we have come and also chart a path forward on where we want to go and how we want to use this relationship to as Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi has said to not only advance the interest of the American people and the Indian people but really to advance and benefit global issues,” the official said.
“That is how the Secretary is really looking at those opportunities to have those kind of conversations in his dialogues and bilateral meetings,”the senior State Department official said.
“As we look at the different challenges and opportunities that we are faced with across the world, increasingly we are looking to engage with and partner with India in addressing those challenges. And India will increasingly play a consequential role in advancing peace and security across the Indian Ocean and across the globe. So US India partnership is critically important for both countries,” said the official.
“I think, you saw in Prime Minister Modi’s speech before the US Congress, one of the most compelling visions as he laid out of a growing convergence in how both our countries view both the challenges and the opportunities as imperative of cooperation to be able to address the challenges and maximize the opportunities,” the State Department official added.
“The President and the Prime Minister have met seven times in the span of three years. That’s why they also had multiple phone conversations, that’s why Secretary Kerry has met his counterpart in Washington, in New Delhi, in New York and other places around the world.”
“that’s why the across the board if you look at the senior leadership of the United States, the level of engagement that they are having with their Indian counterparts is at unprecedented levels. And I only see that growing and not diminishing,” the official argued.
“I solely expect that no matter who is in control of the Congress, who is in control of the executive branch that the arc and the trajectory of this relationship would continue on the path that has been on and that the partnership will only intensify as it moves forward,” the official said.
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