After a year of intensive bilateral engagement at the highest level, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma believes that the two countries are poised to pursue an “ambitious agenda” in the New Year.
“As we move into 2016, we do so with optimism and an ambitious agenda for the future,” Verma noted in a stock-taking on 2015, noting: “While we are proud of our accomplishments, we know there is much more we can do together.”
Verma termed 2015 a “transformative year” that saw the broadening and deepening of US-India partnership with a string of firsts, beginning with President Barack Obama being the first-ever US Head of State attending India’s Republic Day ceremonies as the Chief Guest.
A year that marked the holding of the first composite Strategic and Commercial Dialogue, merging the two different streams, also saw the establishment of secure communication lines between the US President and the Indian PM and between their National Security Advisors “so that important, time-sensitive issues could be tackled directly by our leaders”.
“We exceeded all previous records in two-way trade and foreign direct investments, totaling over $102 billion,” Verma said, noting that Indian companies have invested $11 billion in the US, while American investments in India have topped $28 billion. Turning to Defence relations, he said India and the United States have expanded their military engagement, with the two sides training at a very high level and further integrating their understanding on how best to employ force and operate in contested environments.
“We elevated our strategic partnership to “strategic plus” – signifying that we work together at a much higher level, in more places, and on more different subjects,” said Verma, who also referred to the leadership role on climate change at the recent Paris conference as also cooperation in health, science, space and innovation with the launching of several new initiatives.
However, for all the expanded partnership in a host of areas that Ambassador Verma enumerated, the year may have ended on a rather sour note in at least a couple of areas: the recent deportation of several Indian students and the targeting of Indian IT firms by imposing an additional $4,000 to $4,500 for each H-1B and l-1 visa used by them to bring skilled professionals from India for their US operations.