External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is set to visit the United States from December 24 to 29, Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement . The EAM will be meeting counterparts to discuss key bilateral, regional and global issues. During the visit, EAM will also chair a conference of the Consul Generals of India in the USA. This is the first high-level official visit to the US following Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential polls.
In a statement, the MEA said, “He will be meeting counterparts to discuss key bilateral, regional, and global issues. During the visit, EAM will also chair a conference of the Consul Generals of India in the USA.” However, it is pertinent to mention that there is no update on whether he will be meeting US President-Elect Donald Trump or not.
Earlier on December 19, US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, highlighted the potential of the US-India partnership, emphasizing the need to lower tariffs and increase trade and make it more fair and equal.
While addressing an event organized on Thursday by the US-India Business Council (USIBC), Garcetti said, “We need, together, to lower tariffs, not to see them go up. We need, together, to increase trade and to make it more fair and equal. We need to, together, make sure that there’s training and talent that meets the needs of companies on both sides of the Indo-Pacific.”
He further said, “We have to protect our trademarks and our intellectual property, and we have to make sure that transportation and infrastructure exist for India to reach its goals more quickly; that is in the American interest, and vice versa, in the Indian interest as well. So let us renew our commitment to being more ambitious, to not settling for what is and what is good, but reaching for what can be and what will be great.”
The US Ambassador further praised India’s workforce, calling it the “most extraordinary resource that humanity has on its planets.”
Garcetti said, “And to realize these ambitions, we must recommit ourselves to a mutual path of trust and transparency so that people know what to expect. India’s workforce, which numbers more than a billion people, is one of the most extraordinary resources that humanity has on its planet. They are builders, thinkers, innovators, and entrepreneurs. The Indian dream is the flip side of what we used to call the American truth. In some ways, you see it even more optimistically sometimes than our own country. And we can leave inspired when we work together about what’s possible.”
Garcetti also called for merging “American scientific and financial acumen” with “India’s grassroots ingenuity.” He said, “The US and India can create ecosystems that tap into this human capital to merge American scientific strengths in research, our financial acumen, and business strategy with Indians’ jugaad, finding a solution to everything, your deep talent pools, your grassroots ingenuity, and your readiness to scale solutions on a massive level.”
