By Arun Kumar
Washington : Indian and US officials have reviewed ongoing efforts to implement the bilateral partnership that US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi articulated at their January summit in New Delhi.
“Ongoing efforts to implement the bilateral partnership” were discussed between Indian Foreign Secretary Subramanyam Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice at a meeting on Monday at the White House, according to an official statement.
“They also discussed regional developments and cooperation, and ways to deepen collaboration to solve global challenges such as climate change, terrorism, and Internet governance,” National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price said.
According to an Indian embassy statement, Jaishankar had a series of interactions with interlocutors in the US government including US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman.
He reviewed with Rice the implementation of initiatives taken during the two summits between Modi and Obama in Washington last September and in January when Obama visited New Delhi.
“They also discussed India’s role in South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region, including for promotion of connectivity and economic integration and relief and reconstruction in Nepal after the earthquake of April 2015,” it said.
Blinken, who hosted a luncheon in honour of the foreign secretary, “discussed with him a range of bilateral, regional and global issues of topical relevance”.
“They also explored deeper collaboration and engagement to address emerging global challenges like terrorism, climate change and cyber issues and policy coordination on internet governance and other matters.”
Jaishankar’s meeting with Froman covered the ground of India-US economic and commercial engagement.
They agreed to work together to promote and reinvigorate economic partnership, and to create infrastructure and policy framework to make it attractive for businesses of the two sides to engage with each other, the embassy said.
Dana J. Hyde, chief executive officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), also called on Jaishankar and briefed him on the MCC’s planned engagement with India.