Joe Biden not a stranger to India: Jaishankar harkens to ambassadorship during Obama days

On a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with US President-elect Joe Biden for first time since US elections, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday exuded confidence that ties between India and US will expand furr under Biden's ministration. Jaishankar ted that he was part of period when bilateral relations underwent a rical transformation.

"As Vice President, we dealt with him. I happened to be ambassor during last phase of Obama ministration. We'd kwn him earlier when he was in Senate Foreign Relations Committee as ranking Democratic member and n as chairman," Jaishankar said. External Affairs Minister was speaking at an online discussion organised by leing think-tank Gateway House.

'Biden is t a stranger'

"He (Biden) is very much part of this period when Indo-American relations underwent a rical transformation, which I reasonably date back to (Bill) Clinton's visit," Jaishankar said. Jaishankar said "President-elect Biden is t a stranger" to India or to relationship between two countries.

"I am very confident that we will pick up where we left off, we have done that over last four ministrations. I think that will be case as well here and I also say that because within American politics, it's t just that we deal with ministration of day, we also tend to deal with Congress," Jaishankar said. "American politics by its nature has very strong elements of bipartisanship," he said.

Biden is kwn to be a strong proponent of closer India-US ties since his days as a senator in 1970s and played a key role in getting approval of Senate for bilateral civil nuclear deal in 2008. In August 2001, Biden, as a chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote a letter to n-President George W Bush calling for removal of sanctions against India, PTI reported. In midst of hectic negotiations between two countries to conclude civil nuclear deal, Biden was a critical ally for India in Senate.

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'Discussed our shared priorities and concerns'

Meanwhile, PM Modi and Biden discussed COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and cooperation in Indo-Pacific region, while reiterating ir firm commitment to strategic bilateral partnership. This was first interaction between two leers after Democrat Biden defeated incumbent president Donald Trump in US presidential election.

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(With ncy inputs)