Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday congratulated the US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, on their victories and reaffirmed his country’s commitment to strategic partnership with Washington. He also stressed the need for cooperation in Indo-Pacific region, climate change and mutual efforts to fight COVID-19.
In his congratulatory message to Kamala Harris, Modi said that her victory is a matter of pride for Indian-Americans and would further improve the US-India relationship.
The Prime Minister later tweeted: “Spoke to US President-elect Joe Biden on phone to congratulate him. We reiterated our firm commitment to the Indo-US strategic partnership and discussed our shared priorities and concerns – the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific Region.”
Later Indian external affairs ministry released a Press statement in this regard.
Experts are of the view that India hopes of better trade ties with the United States under the Biden administration. Though the personal chemistry between Modi and Donald Trump was good in the last four years the trade ties with Washington was badly hit as the Trump administration had dropped India from the status of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN). Besides, it created roadblocks on the issue of H1B visa which had its impact on India.
Initially Washington did not come out openly in favour of India over China’s attempt to intrude into Ladakh.
However, it was just before the US election that US Secretary of State and Defence Secretary visited India to sign a deal named Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) with New Delhi.
