Indian Prime Minister Modi and the US President-elect agree to work closely together to strengthen the strategic partnership between India and the US, the Indian State Department said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first phone conversation with US President-elect Joe Biden and they agreed to work closely together to further advance the strategic partnership between India and the US, the Indian State Department said on Wednesday.
Modi congratulated Biden during their interview on Tuesday, and they discussed their priorities, including containing the coronavirus pandemic, promoting access to affordable vaccines, fighting climate change and working together in the Indo-Pacific region, the ministry said in a statement.
Modi had previously sent congratulations to Biden and elected Vice President Kamala Harris on November 8th.
The Indian Prime Minister recalled his previous interactions with Biden, including during his official visits to the US in 2014 and 2016. Biden had visited India in 2013.
Biden had chaired the joint session of the US Congress, which Modi had raised during his 2016 visit to Washington.
Biden had chaired the joint session of the US Congress, which Modi had raised during his 2016 visit to Washington [File: EPA]Modi is known for his public bonhomie shows with President Donald Trump, who visited India in February.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Defense Chief Mark Esper visited India a week before the November 3rd US presidential election to reinforce the Trump administration’s anti-China message in India.
Pompeo and Esper signed an agreement to expand the exchange of information via military satellites, highlighting the strategic cooperation between Washington and New Delhi.
In the run-up to the US election, Biden condemned the citizenship law of the Hindu nationalist government, which critics say discriminates against the nearly 200 million Muslims in India.
“These measures are contrary to the long tradition of secularism in the country and the maintenance of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious democracy,” Biden said in a statement.
However, analysts say India-US relations are bipartisan, and the US wants India to be a key partner in efforts to crack down on China.
Modi is known for his public bonhomie shows with President Donald Trump, who visited India in February [File: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]India has close and growing ties with the United States. In the past 10 years, five Republican and Democratic US presidents have visited the South Asian nation.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Tuesday that New Delhi-Washington relations will continue to develop under the Biden administration.
“As Vice President we dealt with him. I happened to be the ambassador in the last phase of the Obama administration. We had known him earlier when he was the senior Democratic member and then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, ”Jaishankar said in an online discussion organized by the think tank Gateway House.
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