Mike Pompeo Reaffirms Closer Ties With India

New York: Ahead of his New Delhi visit, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday to convey “strong US commitment to working closely with the new Indian government to advance our strategic partnership”, according to his spokesperson Morgan Ortagus.

Pompeo, who begins a three-day visit to New Delhi next Tuesday, congratulated Jaishankar on becoming the external affairs minister and discussed security and economic cooperation between the two countries with Jaishankar, she said in a statement. “Secretary Pompeo and Minister Jaishankar also discussed shared US and Indian objectives in safeguarding a free and open Indo-Pacific, US-India security cooperation, and the US-India economic partnership”, Ortagus said.

Pompeo’s visit will be the first high-level meeting between the two countries after the Lok Sabha elections returned Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a stronger mandate. Key bilateral issues, like trade, are expected to be discussed at the meeting between Pompeo and Jaishankar. Bilateral trade between India and US has almost touched $150 billion and there has been a growth every year in the last few years, Kumar said, adding there has been a seven-fold increase since 2001.

“There are 500 US companies operating in India”, he said. “The contribution of Indian-Americans in the growth of US has been recognized by the US leadership. US has supported India for the permanent member of the (UN) Security Council. Last year, we held a two-plus-two dialogue (between Foreign and Defence Ministers/Secretaries). There is lot of cooperation going on in the high technology trade. So, there is plenty of action going on between India and US bilateral relationship.” (IANS)

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