The relationship between India and the United States of America have flourished under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a US official said, adding that he expects the ties to improve after the Lok Sabha elections.
The senior official in the Trump administration added that the first ever India-US two-plus-two dialogue, held in New Delhi last year, took the relationship forward.
In an attempt to deepen the strategic partnership between the two countries, India and the United States had signed the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) during their first-ever ‘two plus two’ dialogue, which was held in New Delhi on September 6, 2018.
Responding to a question on Modi government’s five-year tenure and the recent visit of India’s Foreign Secretary, Vijay Gokhale to the US, the official said, “US-India relationship has really flourished since Modi took power. The highlight, I would say, was Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the White House in the June of 2017 where a lot of progress was made on the relationship. I would just say that the visit by Foreign Secretary Gokhale was just the latest illustration of the positive trajectory that the relationship is on,” the official said on conditions of anonymity.
Talking about the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the US official maintained that America is looking forward to working with whoever is elected, adding that the US is also expecting the ties to improve and is looking for ways of cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Narendra Modi led government has invested a lot of time and resources in re-shaping India’s image in the global front, which had deteriorated in the last decade. The Indo-US relations have been consistently on an upward trajectory since the present government took the charge.
Last year, in a big boost to Indo-US relationships, the US had designated India as an STA-1 country. This enables easier export control rules for high-technology sales between the two countries. Recently, The US had recognized India as a Major Defence Partner, which allows India to buy more advanced and sensitive technologies from the US at par with that of the US’ closest allies and partners.
Last year, in a statement the US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had backed Modi’s initiative to fight terrorism and reiterated that, “The United States and India, in Prime Minister Modi’s work, have overcome hesitations of history, carrying forward the legacy of friendship and making clear there is no contradiction between strategic autonomy and strategic partnership”.
In fact, soon after Donald Trump was elected as the President, Modi became the 5th world leader Trump spoke to. Since then the relationship between the two countries has just become stronger. US President Donald Trump had once described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his friend. A renowned journalist, Bob Woodward in his book ‘Fear: Trump in the White House’, quoted Trump as saying, “Prime Minister Modi of India is a friend of mine. I like him very much.”
Moreover, because of Narendra Modi’s consistent efforts in the last five years, India is now considered to be a global power and a major security partner by the United States.
