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Working together to show that Indian democracy can be a beacon of hope for throughout the world
The US and India have critical common interests in the Indo-Pacific region and should continue to work to strengthen the role of the Quad in the region. I’ve known President Joe Biden for over twenty years. He and Secretary of State Tony Blinken are committed to the US – India relationship.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Us President Joe Biden during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House /
This week we are celebrating 76th Anniversary of India’s independence. On July 4th we in the United States celebrated our own anniversary of independence.
On this anniversary of the independence of the Republic of India, from which my parents gave me my very name, let us be thankful that India can that in spite of regional, linguistic, religious, and ethnic differences it is possible to rise above these differences and remain united.
We owe a debt of gratitude to leaders like Gandhiji, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Patel. We must work together to carry on their extraordinary example and show that Indian democracy can be a beacon of hope for all throughout the world.
India must show that democracy is not just for smaller, more homogenous, and prosperous nations, but that the most populous nation on earth can make a democracy – rule by the people, for the people and of the people – work. Many skeptics did not think this was possible.
India must show that such a large democracy can operate under the rule of law where the rights of the individual are protected. Today, the United States and India are the largest democracies on the planet. Built fundamentally upon a shared notion of the values of freedom, diversity, human rights, free enterprise, and the rule of law, these two countries should provide an example for developing nations around the world.
The US and India have critical common interests in the Indo-Pacific region and should continue to work to strengthen the role of the Quad in the region. I’ve known President Joe Biden for over twenty years. He and Secretary of State Tony Blinken are committed to the US – India relationship.
In President Biden, India could not have a longer-tenured champion of U.S.- India ties. Back in 2006, he shared his bold vision for the future. He said, “My dream is that in 2020, the two closest nations in the world will be India and the United States.”
The President has never wavered in that conviction ever since. It’s worth pausing to recognize how far the U.S.-India partnership has come. When Dennis Kux published his history of US-India diplomatic relations, he sub-titled it “Estranged Democracies, 1941-1991.” “Estranged” was certainly an accurate description of the relationship between the United States for the first forty-five years of Indian independence.
However, from my vantage point in business, the driving force behind turning “estranged democracies” into “natural allies” has been economic engagement. Without reform in the Indian economy and its opening to the world, the policy changes necessary to make the US and India partners simply would not have happened. India was until recently and once more can be the fastest growing economy in the world, now that the second wave of Covid-19 has ebbed.
A youthful and ambitious population combined with the opportunities presented by a new round of reforms will produce a “demographic dividend” that can propel India to new heights of prosperity. Trade between the U.S. and India continues to grow. India continues to look to U.S. suppliers to facilitate its defense modernization. Despite all of this progress, there is still a lot of untapped potential.
First things first: To realize the untapped potential in both nations, we need to keep our democracies strong. On commercial issues, in particular, the U.S. and India need to find a way to raise our collective ambition and achieve still more together. Enhanced strategic cooperation in areas like public health, education, climate change, sustainable energy, and the use of technology in job-creating innovation are necessary.
Working together deliberately to tackle climate change and extreme heat stress and take on current and emerging geopolitical and health security threats should be prioritized in the years ahead. India has an enormous opportunity as G20 President to lead the world in tackling the most immense geopolitical and climate security challenges – it should seize this opportunity as G20 President.
President Biden welcomed PM Modi to the White House recently – the enormous potential for partnership between our two great nations is profound. It is our duty to revive, enhance, revitalize the principles upon which these two vibrant democracies were founded and ensure that our partnership is deepened in the years ahead.
Despite all that we have achieved together in this century, India and America can and must do so much more to make good on Joe Biden’s dream of our two nations being the world’s closest. One thing is for certain: There are simply no limits to what we can do together to help both our peoples.
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