- Friday, February 28, 2025
Blinken has said economic ties are at the heart of the Indo-US strategic partnership, and under the leadership of Biden and Modi “and private sector leaders like you — it is growing stronger by the day”.
By: Shubham Ghosh
US SECRETARY of state Antony Blinken has said the trajectory of the Indo-US partnership is “unmistakable and filled with promise” and India prime minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming state visit to the US will further solidify the defining relationship of the 21st century.
Modi has been invited by US president Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden for an official state visit, which will include a state dinner on June 22.
Addressing the annual India Ideas Summit of the US-India Business Council (USIBC) in Washington on Monday (12), Blinken said, “We know that India and the United States are big, complicated countries. We certainly have work to do to advance transparency, to promote market access, to strengthen our democracies, to unleash the full potential of our people.”
.@SecBlinken opened the @USChamber’s @USIBC India Ideas Summit with a call for the US and India “to build a free, open, secure, prosperous Indo-Pacific where people, where goods, where ideas can travel freely and rules are applied fairly.” https://t.co/hXT8FiqmVL pic.twitter.com/2HRioZb1iI
— John G. Murphy (@JGodiasMurphy) June 13, 2023
“But the trajectory of this partnership is unmistakable, and it is filled with promise. It is being written in places like North Carolina, where our growing engagement is benefiting both our countries,” he said, as he highlighted several projects in the state benefiting both nations.
According to the top US diplomat, one North Carolina entrepreneur from Gujarat — commenting on this explosion of US-India commercial activity — observed, “‘This couldn’t have happened 15 years ago’.”
Blinken has said economic ties are at the heart of the Indo-US strategic partnership, and under the leadership of president Biden and prime minister Modi “and private sector leaders like you — it is growing stronger by the day”.
Blinken added that last year, trade between the two countries reached a record $191 billion (£151.3 billion), making the US the largest trading partner for India.
American companies have invested at least $54 billion (£42.7 billion) in India — from manufacturing to telecommunications. In the US, he said, Indian companies have invested over $40 billion (£31.6 billion) — in IT, pharmaceuticals and more — supporting 425,000 jobs from California to Georgia.
This February, Air India announced the historic purchase of more than 200 Boeing aircraft that will support an estimated one million-plus jobs across 44 states, Blinken said.
“We’re here ahead of a historic state visit by prime minister Modi — one that will further solidify what President Biden has called a ‘defining relationship’ of the 21st century,” Blinken said.
“We see this defining relationship in our unique connection as the world’s oldest and largest democracies, with a special obligation to demonstrate that our governments can deliver for and empower all our citizens.”
Blinken said both the US and India are making transformative investments in their own countries — through Biden’s $1.2 trillion (£950.8 billion) Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Modi’s Rs 100-trillion (£963.5 billion) infrastructure plan — to make their respective economies more productive and attractive for investors.
“India has joined three pillars of our new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework — committing to build more resilient supply chains, seize clean energy opportunities and combat corruption,” he said.
“Together, we are helping shape the innovations of the future and the norms governing them — from artificial intelligence to quantum computing,” Blinken said and added that in January, USIBC co-hosted a roundtable where the two governments inaugurated a new Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies.
(PTI)
