Distracting “short-term” issues notwithstanding, Indian Ambassador S Jaishankar believes that India and the United States are now positioned to embark on “a more closely collaborative path”.
“The world the two nations seek does look similar in the big picture: with greater prosperity, more freedom, market economics, rule based regimes, and pluralistic societies. At a more practical level, this is being translated into ground reality,” he said in an address to Harvard Kennedy School in Boston. Jaishankar, however, conceded that to set the new relationship in stone, it would require much more work.
“There are disappointments about missed opportunities. Short-term issues can crop up and even dominate in the absence of direction. After all, we have seen differences being publicly paraded after some years,” he said in an apparent reference to the diplomatic spat following the treatment meted out to Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York last December. With public opinion in both countries favouring closer India-US relations, the Ambassador commented: “Our politicians and business leaders get it, as do scientists, educationists and the military. The Pew polls on societal attitudes affirm this change strongly.”
Since 2005, when the civil nuclear deal transformed the relations, bilateral trade has tripled and investments have shot up, he said, adding: “The two countries are each other’s premier partner when it comes to military exercises. India has also emerged as the largest customer for American defense sales abroad.”