New Delhi : India and the US are natural partners and the world demands that the two nations cooperate, US diplomat Kathleen Stephens said Monday.
“Our ability to work together remains a foundation for strong partnership,” Stephens, the charge d’affaires at the US embassy in India, said at the launch of the International Innovations Corps Leadership Speaker series of the University of Chicago centre here.
Stephens said: “I arrived in India at a very consequential moment. Not only for India-US relations but for India itself with the new government taking over.”
Stating that the US government wants to work in a positive direction like that laid down out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said the US wants to cooperate with India in the fields of health, climate change and infrastructure building.
“India needs to create a million jobs per month. You don’t have all the time in the world,” she added.
Asked about the prime minister’s scheduled visit to the US next month, she said: “I hope they (Modi and US President Barack Obama) are able to meet face to face”.
The International Innovations Corps (IIC) fellowship programme of the University of Chicago Center in Delhi aims to jump start the process of solution-based innovation in the Indian public sector.
Specifically, the IIC recruits, trains and send teams of recent University of Chicago and leading Indian university graduates to work on ambitious development projects with the Indian government for one year.