Convergence in Indo-Pacific gave new momentum to India-US strategic partnership: Amb Sandhu

relationship between India and US has grown steily in substance and convergence in Indo-Pacific has given a new momentum to bilateral strategic partnership, Indian envoy said in Washington.

remarks by Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India's Ambassor to US, came during a keynote dress at ‘India at 75’ Conference at School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University on Saturday.

In his dress, Sandhu said that frequent engagements between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden and consultations at ministerial and senior levels have provided overall direction to relationship.

“We have been making efforts to implement vision of our leership. Our bilateral relationship has grown steily in substance,” he said.

“Our strategic partnership has got a new momentum with convergence in Indo-Pacific; through Qu, IPEF (Indo-Pacific Economic Framework) and I2U2," he said In November 2017, US, Australia, India and Japan gave shape to long-pending proposal of setting up four-nation Qu grouping to develop a new strategy to keep critical sea routes in Indo-Pacific free of any influence, amid China’s growing military presence in strategic region.

China claims nearly all of disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in South China Sea. China also has territorial disputes with Japan in East China Sea.

IPEF was launched jointly by US and or partner countries of Indo-Pacific region on May 23 in Tokyo. 14 members of IPEF are -- Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and US.

It seeks to strengn economic partnerships among participating countries to enhance resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness and competitiveness in region.

I2U2 - comprising India, Israel, UAE and US - was established in October 2021.

grouping aims to cooperate on joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.

"Beyond political level, it is everyday connections between people; businesses; researchers; scholars; all of you here in this room which create foundations for a thriving partnership,” Sandhu said.

He said relationship between India and US is defined by three S – scale, speed and skills.

"To give an example under longstanding Vaccine Action Programme, India and US jointly developed ROTAVAC vaccine against rotavirus. cost of vaccine went down from USD 60 to USD 1," Sandhu said.

More recently, Covid vaccine partnership story is no different, he said.

"A closer India-US relationship is in interest of world. So scale,” he ded.

"Two: Here is a relationship, which is people-driven and people-centric. Our real success is measured by how quickly and how effectively as governments we are able to match expectations of people. South Block and C Street or Pennsylvania Avenue are always trying to catch up with people’s dreams and aspirations. So speed,” Sandhu said.

Talking about skills, he said India's four million plus diaspora in US and more than 200,000 Indian students in country act as strong anchors of bilateral relationship.

"y are force multipliers. y also come with substantial skill sets. I feel y make our relationship smart in true sense. So skills,” said Ambassor.