US' partnership with India is one of our most consequential relationships: Vedant Patel

The Joe Biden administration has described India as one of its most consequential partners and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US next month is an opportunity to enhance partnership on several vital priorities, including ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific, and strengthen trade and security partnership. PM Modi will embark on his first state visit to the US next month on an invitation by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. The US President and the First Lady will also host PM Modi at a state dinner on June 22. “Our partnership with India is one of our most consequential relationships and we work closely with India on a number of vital priorities,” state department’s Deputy Press Secretary Vedant Patel said during his daily news conference on Monday. The state visit is an opportunity to deepen some of these partnerships, whether it be ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific and ensuring that it is a region that is more connected, more prosperous, more secure and more resilient, Patel told reporters at his daily news conference. Patel’s reference to the Indo-Pacific came amidst China’s aggressive behaviour in the region where it is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. China claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims. Beijing has also built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region. Both areas are stated to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are also vital to global trade. The US, Japan, India and Australia had in 2017 given shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad or the Quadrilateral coalition to counter China’s aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region. “Obviously, between India and the United States, there exists an opportunity to deepen trade issues, deepen security partnerships. There is an opportunity to address some shared global challenges like global health and addressing the climate crisis. So again, I am not going to get ahead of the state visit, but we very much look forward to hosting the Indian government,” Patel said in response to a question. (With inputs from PTI) Read all the Latest News, Trending News,  Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.