“That’s an extensive way to say that I’m very confident regarding this relationship,” Jaishankar said to reporters during an event that was a joint press event together with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he responded to a question about his overall impression of the direction that the two countries are on.
Washington: Having played a major influence on shaping Indian-American relations over the past couple of decades, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said that he’s very confident regarding the relationship between the two countries.
“So honestly, it’s an extended way of saying that I’m very confident regarding this relationship,” Jaishankar told reporters at an event that was a joint press event together with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he responded to a query about his overall impression of the course in the current relationship.
“The major change that I’ve witnessed in my 40 years as a diplomat is actually in the transformation of the India-US relationships,” he said.
“And your question is how do I perceive the direction of things? sincerely, I am seeing today the United States very international, and much more open to engagement and more open to engaging with a country such as India and is looking beyond traditional alliances and has proven successful in finding the common ground with partners who are either potential or actual,” Jaishankar said.
A great illustration of this is the Quad an informal association comprising Australia, Japan, India, and the United States.
“I refer to the fact that there was that a Quad used to be something we had tried at least two decades ago. It didn’t work, however, it’s working extremely well in the present and has dramatically grown in the past 2 years,” the doctor said.
“So I believe that our relationship with the US can open up a wide array of possibilities not only in America but with the United States, though those are crucial in their own way since, that at the moment there’s plenty to offer India and I believe the US will also benefit from working with the United States for whether it’s economy, technology or security,” Jaishankar said.
“I think that it’s been an enjoyable experience and an optimistic one that holds a lot of potential, of working together with the US to determine the future for the rest of humanity. To me, this is the most significant leap that we’ve made and I believe that the more we cooperate and engage one another, I believe there are many more opportunities to come,” said the minister.
Similar to Jaishankar, Blinken said no two nations have more capacity, opportunity, and the responsibility to determine the future of the 21st century as both the United States and India as two of the largest democracies on earth.
“What is extremely pleasing to me is that, in all these gatherings, throughout these discussions in the ongoing dialogue we’re being able to think together and work together in ways we’ve never done previously,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean there aren’t differences. We do, and will. It is also the case that due to the richness and depth of our conversations we discuss everything and collaborate in order to advance the agenda we share in common. This, is, as you’ve heard believe, coming from both of us is a broad spectrum of the topic that affects our own citizens as well as those across the globe,” the Secretary of State said.
Blinken acknowledged the importance of the Indian-American communities, which he believes does in a way to strengthen the connections between the two countries as well as define the character of the nation.
“And I’d like to add that we’re also thankful to communities in India that are of American origin, who do their part to improve the relationship between us to the benefit of both of our nations and our respective peoples,” he said.
The remarks of speaker Jaishankar declared that a significant portion of his discussions with Blinken focused on the development of their relationship.
“Most of you recognize that the relationship has expanded substantially in terms of size and scope over the last couple of years. We interact with each other in all kinds of domains in addition, the caliber of our collaboration as well as the quality of our communications have been steadily improving,” he said.
