WASHINGTON D.C. (TIP): As trusted global partners, India and the US are working to address the “pressing challenges of our times,” Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu said on Thursday, April 6.
Addressing the New Hampshire State Assembly, a rare privilege given to foreign diplomats, Sandhu said that India stands today as a “beacon of stability, amidst geopolitical uncertainties; an usher of global economic growth; a solution provider to some of the complex challenges of the times; and a consensus builder, in times of conflict and rising tensions.” “India remains interesting, important and incredible,” he said.
President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi characterize India-US ties as a “Partnership for Global Good” and people call it the “most defining relationship of the 21st century,” he told the lawmakers.
“Our partnership within the QUAD, IPEF and I2U2 frameworks is creating progress and prosperity for the world at large,” he added.
Sandhu said that India and the US, as trusted global partners, are working to address pressing challenges of the times, the solutions to which would involve combining American technology and Indian talent, Washington’s strength to innovate and New Delhi’s ability to scale.
“Some of this is already happening,” he said.
American companies are manufacturing more in India than before, the two countries have launched a historic initiative on critical and emerging technologies, he said, adding, “The technologies that are driving tomorrow’s world, yesterday, – semiconductors, Artificial Intelligence, telecom, and quantum.” “We have active vaccine and medicine collaborations such as the Corbevax that are more affordable and accessible,” the Indian envoy said.
Sandhu said, “From New Delhi to New Hampshire, there are several threads that bind us together.” “From the world’s largest democracy to the largest State Assembly, in the United States, we are guided by the same values and the vision, ‘we, the people’,” he said. Addressing the packed State Assembly, Sandhu said that he was convinced of the strength of the shared beliefs of the two countries and the deep-rooted friendship and partnership as he stood “in this temple of democracy, steeped in people’s hopes and aspirations.”
Taking to Twitter after the address, the Indian Ambassador wrote, “A privilege to address the historic #NewHampshire House of Representatives & Senate Members this morning. Highlighted India’s transformative journey and its ever-strengthening partnership with the US.” During his address, Sandhu said that India is an ancient civilization but a young nation as 50 per cent of the population is below 25 years. He added that its talent can be a game-changer for innovation and research for the world.
“We bring to the table our strengths and successes, and we are always ready to share it with the world: From vaccines to disaster relief, to our digital public goods, to our skills,” Sandhu said.
Noting that India supplied vaccines to over 100 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and it was the first country to send a humanitarian mission when disaster struck Turkiye, Sandhu said, “As India leads the G-20 this year, with the motto of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, our approach to the global good, will resonate, far and wide.” “When our students seek education, in Dartmouth, or when a scholar from South New Hampshire University, pursues a Fulbright scholarship in India, we create a lasting friendship, between our peoples,” the top Indian diplomat in the US said.
The Indian diaspora, he said, has been a vibrant and strong bridge connecting the two great nations.
“The Bretton wood twins- IMF and World Bank- were born here in New Hampshire, at the Mount Washington Hotel- and here we are when the World Bank is soon going to be headed by a proud Indian-American!” he said, referring to Indian-American Ajay Banga who is poised to become the next President of the World Bank, adding that the second in command in IMF is already an Indian-American.
He said that 40 per cent of the world’s digital payments come from India.
“Be it the world’s largest biometric programme, Aadhar or world’s largest financial inclusion programme, ‘Jan Dhan Yojana’, or world’s largest Health Protection Mission, ‘Ayushman Bharat’, India has actively used technology as a tool for good governance,” he said. “We have more than 80,000 start-ups, out of which 115 are unicorns. Our rural internet users (USD 340 million), outnumber urban users (USD 290 million). IMF has forecast 15 per cent of global growth this year would come from India,” Sandhu said.
(Source: PTI)