US, India Have ‘Very Strong’ Potential To Work Together, Says Blinken

India and the United States have “very strong” potential to work together and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a “very strong” advocate of renewable energy and different technologies, said US Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken on Tuesday.

At his nomination confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Blinken said that India has been a bipartisan success story of the US successive administrations, adding that there are “many ways in which we can deepen that corporation”.

“India has been a bipartisan success story of our successive administrations. It started towards the end of the Clinton administration… During the Obama administration, we deepened cooperation on defence procurement and information sharing and the Trump administration carried that forward including its concept of Indo-Pacific and to make sure we were working with India so that no country in the region including China could challenge its sovereignty and also working with it on concerns that we share about terrorism. There are many ways we can deepen that cooperation that successive administrations have put us on,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“One area that has a lot of promise and necessity is Climate. Prime Minister Modi has been a very strong advocate of renewable energy and different technologies. I think there is very strong potential for our countries to work together,” he added.

The hearing comes a day ahead of US President-elect Joe Biden is scheduled to take oath as the 46th president of the United States.

In November, US President-elect Biden nominated Antony Blinken, one of his closest and longest-serving foreign policy advisers, as Secretary of State to serve in his administration.

Blinken, 58, has been advising Biden on foreign policy for years.

As a run-up to the presidential election, Blinken made some statements that give a sense of his approach towards India.

On August 15, Blinken participated in a panel discussion on Indo-US ties. Addressing Indian American Democrats on India’s Independence Day at the US-India Relations and Indian Americans in Joe Biden’s America virtual event, Blinken affirmed how Biden would be a champion of India-US relations.

He had said that Joe Biden sees India and the US as natural partners and that the vision, he will help to make real as the president.