-US Ambassador in India not only noted the “difficult times” that India is currently facing with resurgence of COVID-19 but also pledged to help the nation.

WASHINGTON (TIP): Daniel B. Smith on May 3 was appointed as US Charge d’Affaires to India and said that he is ‘ready to work’. He was the former US acting Secretary of State and in 2018, he took the role as the director of the Foreign Service Institute. Prior to this, Smith has also been the Career Ambassador in the United States and in 2014, he was Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. In 2010, the present US envoy to India was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Greece). Smith entered the US government in 2007 as Executive Secretary.

Further, Smith not only noted the “difficult times” that India is currently facing with the resurgence of COVID-19 and shortage of medical supplies but also pledged to help the nation as New Delhi assisted Washington. Smith’s maiden remarks on Twitter after taking over the position came as United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) fifth emergency shipment in five days landed in India on May 4. The consignment carried more than 500 oxygen concentrators to help the hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients along with more than 100,000 N95 masks to ensure the safety of the frontline workers.

While US Ambassador in India pledged to enhance US-India cooperation amid COVID-19, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in person with Minister of External Affairs (MEA) Dr S Jaishankar in London on May 2 when both senior diplomats the cooperation over COVID-19 resources along with other issues such as Indo-Pacific landscape and the United Nations (UN) Security Council. Further, even the US Department of Defense has said the final two flights of essential supplies for India have been delayed and will arrive by May 5.