Thursday 25 / April / 2024
New Delhi: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi on Wednesday, as part of his three-day visit to the country. Later in the day, following a meeting between Pompeo and India's Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar, the two diplomats held a joint press conference after discussing issues pertaining to bilateral ties between the two countries. Jaishankar said the two discussed a range of issues including trade, energy, defence, investment, and people to people contacts between both nations. On trade, Jaishankar said that "the US is today our largest trade partner and is among key investment sources as well. What has been clear over the last few years is that as both economies have grown strongly, new opportunities have been created by new demands and we were both very optimistic about where our economic relationship is going and can go." "On some outstanding issues, particularly relating to trade, my urging was that we take a constructive and pragmatic view of that which is natural when you have trade that there will be trade issues. I think the real test of our intentions is our ability to address them effectively "Where the government of India is concerned, we are committed to do business, to provide a level playing field, and to grow with the world economy, striking the right balance between these concerns is what we plan to do,” Jaishankar said. On the topic of defence, India’s newly sworn-in External Affairs Minister said, "That again has been a very encouraging story over the last decade or more. Today we operate a number of American-origin platforms and equipment and the key point is if that is to continue to grow its important that we display trust and confidence and each other. "We also discussed energy issues", he added, "and I underlined the importance of stability, predictability, and affordability in terms of India's energy imports." Pompeo, speaking after India's minister, stated, "In recent decades our relationship has made real strides but there is an awful lot more that we can do together and we had a chance to talk about each of those big strategic opportunities between two great countries. We can in this context not just see each other as bilateral partners but as something much bigger than that, as friends who can help each other all around the world." "I can already say that the US-India partnership is already beginning to reach new heights. We bolstered our defence cooperation, we solidified our common vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific, and we have grown cooperation in energy and in space and in other areas,” he added. Touching on the topic of terrorism, Pompeo said, "India's own experience with terrorism is very real. We know that as the blast that ripped through Sri Lanka churches has shown, terrorism is a constant in this region and India's ability to fight it should be second-to-none. Our teams will continue to work together to improve information sharing, intelligence sharing, to strengthen India's ability to fight terrorism." "Great friends are bound to have disagreements. The United States has been clear that we seek greater market access and the removal of trade barriers in our economic relationship and today I addressed these differences in the spirit of friendship and I think that the two of us will be able to see a good outcome for each of our two countries," the US Secretary of State added. "Know this, when 1.7 billion people in the world's two largest democracies come together we can do great things," Pompeo said.
