India ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu launches in-person consular services centre in US

Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India's ambassador to the United States, has launched an in-person consular services centre VFS Global in Washington, D.C on Tuesday. This is a positive step for the Indian diaspora in the United States. Sandhu said the Indian Embassy and Consulates will continue to give all feasible consular help to Indians, the Indian-American community, and US nationals. Due to COVID-19, the VFS centre, which was inaugurated in November 2020, was accepting all queries via mail-mode. On Tuesday, the in-person operations were officially opened.

India ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu inaugurates in-person consular services centre in Washington DC

“Pleasure to launch in-person consular services centre VFS Global in Washington DC”, Sandhu said in a tweet. He added, “Despite challenges posed by pandemic, @IndianEmbassyUS & our Consulates continue to remain in the forefront to provide all possible consular assistance”. Meanwhile, Sandhu informed that he spoke to US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on the same day. His tweet added that they discussed strengthening India-US commercial and economic ties, including supply chain resilience and enhanced cooperation in technology sectors.

India-US partnership to be strengthened 

Despite the pandemic's hurdles, the Indian Embassy and Consulates continue to be at the forefront of providing all possible consular assistance. A handful of community leaders attended the occasion. During the ceremony, Sandhu highlighted that during COVID-19, the Embassy and Consulates have been providing consular assistance, including through the Vande Bharat Mission. There is a webinar being held on India-US Partnership in the Startup Ecosystem with Sandhu in attendance, on 31 August. He will be delivering the keynote address. This is another step in strengthening the ties between the two countries. Points in the webinar will include:

• Major trends in the Indian Startup Ecosystem over the past 5 years
• Indian’s role in the global emerging SaaS market and upcoming opportunities
• Profitability and return generating potential of the Indian Startup Market
• Angel investment landscape in India
• Indian venture capital ecosystem
• Effective strategies to engage, build and co-invest in Indian Startups in industries of Energy, Healthcare, Information Communication Technologies, FinTech and Advanced Manufacturing

(With inputs from PTI)

(IMAGE: Taranjit Singh Sandhu Twitter)