India-U.S. ties break out of Trump’s shadow with first phone call between Jaishankar and Blinken
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his American counterpart Tony Blinken have spoken over the telephone during which the two chiefs reaffirmed the growing bilateral partnership. They discussed issues of shared concern, including COVID-19 inoculation endeavours, territorial events and following stages in expanding bilateral ties, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said on Friday. It was Blinken’s first telephonic discussion with Jaishankar after he assumed the charge of the top American diplomat early this week. Blinken underscored India’s role as a preeminent US accomplice in the Indo-Pacific and the significance of cooperating to grow the provincial collaboration, including through the Quad, Price said.
Both consented to organize intently on worldwide turns of events and anticipate meeting face to face at the soonest opportunity, Price said in a readout of the call, which was the principal correspondence between them after January 20 when Joe Biden was sworn as the 46th President of the United States.
“I was pleased to talk today with my old friend @DrSJaishankar to examine U.S.- India priorities. We reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.- India relationship and talked about ways we can more readily take advantage of new opportunities and battle shared difficulties in the Indo-Pacific and past”, the Secretary of State said on Twitter.
In the wake of involving Foggy Bottom central command of the State Department, Blinken has addressed his partners from over twelve nations including Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Britain, Japan, Germany, France, Israel and South Africa. The Modi government’s association with President Joe Biden returns to the days when External Affairs S. Jaishankar was Indian Ambassador to the US during the Obama administration and present Ambassador to US Taranjit Singh Sandhu was his deputy. The strategic and defence ties among India and the US saw significant development during Barack Obama’s administration and Biden, as the VP, had assumed a vital part in it. In the interim, India-US joint preparing Exercise ‘Yudh Abhyas-20’ has begun on February 8, at Suratgarh in Rajasthan, which saw 270 American officers are participating.
Begun in 2004, ‘Exercise Yudh Abhyas-20′ is the sixteenth version in the arrangement of respective activities under this standard and would zero in on Counter-Terrorism tasks under United Nations Mandate. President Joe Biden has signalled he would seek to deepen the close relationship between the United States and India in his first discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he added environmental change and “democratic agendas” to the plan. Modi welcomed calls to work together on battling environmental change and agreed to participate in a climate summit Biden will host in April, the White House said. The US’ new President Joe Biden and India’s Prime Minister Modi will be ‘working intently’ in the coming months as the world keeps on recovering from the Covid pandemic. To work closely to battle COVID-19, renew their partnership on climate change and defend democratic institution and standards around the globe, including Myanmar. “The US and India will work closely together to win the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, renew their partnership on environmental change, rebuild the global economy in a way that benefits the people of both the countries and stand together against the scourge of worldwide terrorism,” said the White House public statement.
The two leaders likewise reflagged a typical international plan, by restoring their help for a free and open Indo-Pacific, generally saw as a regulation to counter China’s muscle-flexing in the Pacific, including the South China Sea just as the Indian Ocean.
