'Support India's emergence as leading global power': US, ahead of Secy Blinken's visit

In a key development, the United States on Tuesday reaffirmed its commitment to 'strengthening partnership' with India. This comes ahead of Secretary Antony J. Blinken's visit to India, during which he will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar to discuss a wide range of issues, including continued cooperation on COVID-19 response efforts, Indo-Pacific engagement, shared regional security interests, shared democratic values, and addressing the climate crisis.

'The United States supports India’s emergence as a leading global power'

In a release, the United States stated that it supports India’s emergence as a leading global power. "The United States and India cooperate on a wide range of diplomatic, economic, and security issues, including defence, non-proliferation, regional cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, shared democratic values, counterterrorism, climate change, health, energy, trade and investment, peacekeeping, the environment, education, science and technology, agriculture, space, and oceans," it said, moving on to address the issues one by one. 

The Indo-Pacific front and centre

Pointing out that the United States and India are working to expand cooperation in international organisations, the country in the release took up the cause of Indo-Pacific and beyond. "India is a leading global power and a key U.S. partner in the Indo-Pacific and beyond," it stated. Looking back at the inaugural Quad Leaders’ Summit in March, it added, "President Biden and Prime Minister Modi joined their Japanese and Australian counterparts in pledging to respond to the economic and health impacts of COVID-19, combat the climate crisis, and address shared challenges."

Deterring adversaries and defending interests

The United States, in the release, also talked about cooperation in the area of defence. "U.S.-India defence cooperation is reaching new heights, including through information sharing, liaison officers, increasingly complex exercises like Malabar, and defence enabling agreements, such as the secure communications agreement COMCASA. As of 2020, the United States has authorised over $20 billion in defence sales to India," it said in the release.

It pointed out that the United States and India are closely coordinating on regional security issues, such as Afghanistan.

Other issues on which the United States and India have partnered 

Combating COVID-19

In the release, the US threw light on cooperation during COVID. Reiterating full support to India in tackling COVID, it stated," The United States has contributed more than $200 million for India’s COVID-19 relief and response efforts since the pandemic began, including more than $50 million in emergency supplies and training for more than 218,000 frontline health workers on infection prevention and control, benefitting more than 43 million Indians."

It added that the United States and India are partnering to strengthen the global response to COVID-19, on issues ranging from addressing infectious disease outbreaks to strengthening health systems to securing global supply chains. Further, the two countries, as per the release, have initiated the renewal of a memorandum of understanding to collaborate through an International Center of Excellence in Research focussed on infectious diseases, including COVID-19 and other emerging threats. 

Climate crisis

The issue of Climate change also found a mention in the release. "Under the new Agenda 2030 Partnership, the United States and India look forward to launching the new Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue, led by Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, and relaunching the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership, led by Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, later this year," the Country stated in the release. 

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the national capital ahead of United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit on Tuesday. Blinken has already boarded his flight to New Delhi for his two-day visit to India.