- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
US Congressman Ro Khanna has said that the country wants to make sure that a GE Engines deal with India is reached so that they don’t lose out to Europe.
Speaking to Asian News International on the sidelines of his address at India-US Business Summit, the Indian-American lawmaker said India has realised that the Soviet military equipment doesn’t work as well and with Russia moving towards China, the South Asian nation has really been open to building a strong relation with the US.
Remarking that India wants jet engines, Khanna said, “And the first thing is to make sure that deal gets done, hopefully before the prime minister’s (Narendra Modi) visit. And we are working on that.”
“We also are working to ensure that the prime minister gets to speak to the United States Congress. The co-chairs will be requesting the speaker to issue that invitation,” the 46-year-old member of the US House of Representatives from California added.
Modi may travel to the US in a state visit in June.
“We need to be stronger on defence, and this is a key time,” he said.
Regarding jet engines, Khanna said, “The defence deliverable on the jet engines is critical.”
On the business and economic ties between the US and India, the Democratic lawmaker said, “There needs to be a continued effort. I think the reality is that India can emerge as the hub in Asia for the Asian market. Companies in my district like Apple moving out of China, moving into India, into Bangalore, and opening up Apple stores there. I have encouraged companies to manufacture in the United States and restore into the United States, but to the extent they need to sell into Asia to look to allies like India instead of China.”
“We need to figure out how to provide India with alternative sources of cheaper energy so they can grow. And I’ve appreciated that India has unequivocally condemned Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but this should not be a barrier to strengthening a partnership that will last decades,” he added.
(With ANI inputs)
