Deepening ties with India in several areas: US

WASHINGTON: The US is deepening its ties with India in several key areas, including economic and security cooperation, a senior official has said, emphasising that Washington will continue to cultivate this relationship.

State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel made the remarks on Monday at his daily news conference in response to a question on US-India relations and the recent conversation between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the recent G7 Summit in Italy.

"India is a country in which we are deepening our relations within a number of key spaces, especially as it relates to deepening our economic ties, deepening our security cooperation," Patel told reporters.

President Biden "had the opportunity to briefly see Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi in the margins of the G7 a couple of weeks ago," he added.

“So this is an area where we will continue to cultivate this relationship," he said.

Noting that the US hosted Prime Minister Modi for a state visit last year, he said, "I imagine there will be a number of additional areas where we continue to deepen cooperation."

Prime Minister Modi visited the US in June last year at the invitation of President Biden during which the two countries signed a raft of mega defence, trade and space cooperation agreements.

Patel added that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visited India a few weeks ago too.

Sullivan visited India from June 17 to 18 and held extensive talks with his counterpart Ajit Doval primarily focusing on the implementation of the ambitious India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET).

Responding to a question on Pakistan and on India-Pakistan ties, Patel said the US would hope that any country on the face of the planet condemns terrorism anywhere.

“But ultimately, this is between India and Pakistan. Broadly, of course, we welcome any countries making more positive relations with their neighbours. But as it relates to this specifically, I just, I don't have anything to offer,” he said.