On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken chaired talks with the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affair Minister S Jaishankar. Reportedly they discussed on several bilateral and religious issues while looking forward to take the relationship to a next level.
The talks covered issues ranging from Afghanistan, Indo-Pacific to COVID 19 response mechanism. They further emphasized on the ways required to boost regional security.
Blinken, while addressing a joint media briefing, commented, “there are few relationships in the world that are more vital than the one between the US and India.” He added that being the world’s largest democracies, “we take serious responsibilities” towards freedom, equality and opportunity to all of ‘our people’.
Further, he expressed that the actions by India and the US shape the 21st century and beyond, that is why strengthening partnership with India is one of the top foreign policy priority of the US.
As per sources quoted by News 18, the major priorities for both the countries during the meeting was the COVID-19 pandemic. Both US and India were massively hit by the pandemic. Referring to the second wave of the pandemic Blinken voiced, “We won’t forget the aid India provided to US in the first decade. Proud that we could reciprocate when India wanted help.” India too acknowledged the support they received from US during the second wave of COVID 19.
According to reports, around $25 million dollar vaccination effort, vaccine supply chain logistics coupled with the ways to combat vaccine hesitancy and make it affordable and accessible to the masses were also a part of the discussion.
Following the discussions, Bliken tweeted stating that India is one of US’s most valued partners and further welcomed India’s emergence as a leading global power.
Thanks to @DrSJaishankar for a collaborative discussion today on many areas of cooperation, including efforts to support peace and stability in Afghanistan. India is one of our most valued partners, and the U.S. welcomes India's emergence as a leading global power.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) July 28, 2021
As assumed earlier, both the countries concentrated in developing strategic issues related to security, defense, economic and technology related sectors.
S Jaishankar, while addressing the media together with Blinken, affirmed, “The bilateral partnership between India and US has advanced where we can collaborate on bigger issues. We are meeting for the fourth time this year.”
Sources further revealed that India have raised matters related to travel in US as the country has made things easy for students. It further added peace negotiations were given importance by both the parties and they agreed that gains to the Afghan civil society over the past two decades must be preserved. The leaders underlined that Afghanistan should not be the home to terrorism.
Jaishankar added, “There is much more convergence on Afghanistan than divergence. We agreed that peace negotiations should be taken seriously. The diversity of Afghanistan must be taken into account to find a lasting solution.”
Blinken while agreeing with Jaishankar stated, “There is no military solution to the conflict. The future government has to be inclusive and fully representative.
At the meeting, views about contemporary and futuristic issues related to regional and global securities were also exchanged.
Earlier in the day, Blinken met with the civil society leader, following which he stated that India and US share a commitment to democratic values and it is a part of the bedrock of the relationship and is reflective of India’s pluralistic society.
Hours before meeting Jaishankar, Blinken met Ajit Doval and discussed on bilateral and religious issues. Following the meeting, the National Security Advisor asserted that India is looking forward to the annual US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue later this year. He added that both the countries aims in strengthening democratic values and thereby stand for freedom.
