Indian Prime Minister Modi and US President-elect agree to work closely together to advance the Indo-American strategic partnership, India’s Foreign Ministry said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had his first phone conversation with U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and they agreed to work closely together to further advance the Indo-American strategic partnership, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. from India.
Modi congratulated Biden during their conversation on Tuesday and they discussed their priorities, including containing the coronavirus pandemic, promoting access to affordable vaccines, fighting climate change and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, said the ministry in a statement.
Modi had previously tweeted his congratulations to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on November 8.
The Indian prime minister recalled his previous interactions with Biden, including during his official visits to the United States in 2014 and 2016. Biden had visited India in 2013.
Biden had chaired the joint session of the United States Congress that Modi addressed during his visit to Washington in 2016.
Biden had chaired the joint session of the United States Congress that Modi addressed during his visit to Washington in 2016. [File: EPA]
Modi is known for his public displays of bonhomie with President Donald Trump, who visited India in February.
Intensifying the Trump administration’s anti-China message in India, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Defense Chief Mark Esper visited India a week before the November 3 US presidential election.
Pompeo and Esper signed an agreement that expands the exchange of military satellite information and highlighted the strategic cooperation between Washington and New Delhi.
Critics of Modi said the prime minister had come dangerously close to backing Trump’s candidacy, which they said could hurt India’s prospects under a Democratic administration.
Ahead of the US elections, Biden condemned the Hindu nationalist government’s citizenship law, which critics say discriminates against India’s nearly 200 million Muslims.
“These measures are incompatible with the long tradition of secularism in the country and with the maintenance of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious democracy,” Biden had said in a statement.
But analysts say the relationship between India and the United States enjoys bipartisan support, and the United States wants India to be a key partner in efforts to roll back China.
Modi is known for his public displays of bonhomie with President Donald Trump, who visited India in February. [File: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]
India enjoys a strong and growing relationship with the United States, with five American Republican and Democratic presidents visiting the South Asian nation in the past 10 years.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Tuesday that ties between New Delhi and Washington will further expand under the Biden administration.
“As vice president, we deal with him. I was the ambassador during the last phase of the Obama administration. We knew him before when he was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as the highest-ranking Democratic member and then as President, ”Jaishankar said while speaking in an online discussion hosted by the Gateway House think tank.
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