“I’m Very Bullish About That Relationship”: MEA S Jaishankar

After helping to shape India-US relations over the last few decades, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar expressed on Tuesday his extreme optimism for the bilateral relationship.

“So very frankly, that’s a long way of saying that I’m very bullish about that relationship,” Mr Jaishankar told reporters at a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he responded to a question on his overall sense of the trajectory of the relationship.

“The big change that I have seen in my four decades as a diplomat was actually in the transformation of India-US relations,” he said.

“And your question – how do I see the trajectory – quite honestly, I see today the United States very international, very much more to engaging – very much more open to engaging a country like India, which is actually thinking beyond traditional alliances, which has been very effective at finding common ground with potential or actual partners,” Jaishankar added.

“I mean, the fact was a Quad was something we tried about two decades – 15 years – ago. It didn’t work, and it is working very well today and it’s grown remarkably in the course of the last two years,” the Minister noted.

“So I think for us today the relationship with the US opens up a whole range of possibilities, possibilities not just with the United States, though those are important in themselves because I think at this point of time, there’s so much that India – and I assume the US too – stands to benefit from working with the United States for – whether it’s economy, whether it’s technology, whether security,” Mr Jaishankar said.

“I would say it’s been a very positive experience, a very encouraging one with a lot of promise, of working with the US to shape the direction of the world. I mean, to me that’s really the big jump which we have made, and I think the more we work together, the more we engage each other, I think many more possibilities will come,” he added.

In agreement with Mr Jaishankar, Mr Blinken stated that as the two biggest democracies in the world, neither the United States nor India has a greater capacity, opportunity, or obligation to attempt to shape the future of this century.

What is very gratifying to me is the fact that in all of these meetings, in all of these conversations in this ongoing dialogue we have, we are thinking together and working together in ways that we haven’t before,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean that we don’t have differences. We do, and we will. But it also means that because of the depth and quality of the dialogue we have, we talk about everything and work closely together on how we can advance the agenda that we have in common, which – as you’ve heard, I think, from both of us – extends to virtually every issue that is confronting our own citizens and people around the world,” the Secretary of State said.

The Indian-American community, according to Mr Blinken, plays an important part in strengthening relations between the two countries and helping to build our nation’s culture.

“And I would add that we’re also grateful to communities in India, including those of American origin, that are doing their part to strengthen the relationship for the good of both of our countries and both of our peoples,” he said.