Fighting terror boosts India-US ties
A STRONGER partnership in counter-terrorism will give impetus to India-US relations, US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, pictured, has said.
“The number of militaryengagement and exercises between US and India exceeds any other partner in the region and it is continuing to grow,” the Hawaiian Democrat said at a Ficci-International Indian Film Academy (IIFA ) Global Business Forum in New York recently.
Gabbard, the first Hindu elected to the US Congress, was in conversation with the Indian envoy to the US, Navtej Sarna, at the event.
They discussed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US last month to meet President Donald Trump and how opportunities should be explored to strengthen ties between the two countries.
Stressing the need to boost counter- terrorism, Gabbard said: “There is a recognition of the benefit in strengthening the partnership and engagement, to ensure the countries are stable and that we deal with unconventional counter-terror threats together… because then we will be stronger.”
Sarna made the point at the Malabar joint naval exercise, which was aimed at enhancing the interoperability of the navies of India, the US and Japan.
“Aircraft carriers from India and the US are exercising along with submarines. This year, India has been designated a major defence partner by the US. We need to fight this together, and we appreciate the personal reactions we got on the recent attack on pilgrims in India,” he added.
Gabbard said there was still a lot of excitement in Washington over Modi’s visit.
“For those of us on the India-US caucus and those who have been working on the India-US partnership for years, everyone is saying these are exciting times for the friendship between the countries.”
She said economic partnerships were flourishing, as were relationships in technology, education, culture and the arts.
“Having the IIFA celebrations here is appropriate given how much interest not just the Indian American audience has, but the Americans have in films coming from India. This is increasing the understanding and affinity between the people of the two countries,” she said.
Sarna appreciated the support for India-US engagement was “across the political spectrum”. He even said that during Modi’s visit to meet Trump, they “hit it off in terms of understanding, engaging one another and listening to one another’s concerns”. – IANS