India-US indispensable partners, working closely on more issues: Blinken

The relationship between India and the US has transformed in the last two-and-half years making them indispensable partners, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

Speaking at a luncheon hosted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's honour at the White House on Friday, he said from semiconductors to space and from education to food security, India and the US are working closely together on more issues than ever.

Modi is on a State Visit to the US from June 21-24 at the invitation of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.

"During the last two-and-a-half years, we have transformed the relationship between our countries. We are working closely together on more issues than ever before. From semiconductors to space, from education to food security. The energy, ambition, and potential of our cooperation are boundless," Blinken said.

"The US and India have become, as the prime minister has put it, indispensable partners," he said and added that this "partnership, President Biden has said, is the defining relationship of the 21st century".

Together, the countries are promoting greater peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and around the globe, combating disease, responding to natural disasters, strengthening maritime security and standing up for the principles at the heart of the United Nations Charter, he said.

Blinken said India and the US are working to safeguard the planet for future generations, developing affordable solar panels and sustainable aviation fuels. "We are driving opportunity and innovation, from entrepreneurs powering our economies to US companies investing in India and vice versa," he said.

The secretary of state also said that the cutting-edge research that India and the US are jointly advancing, from quantum to artificial intelligence, is helping to sustain the technological edge and shaping a digital future that safeguards democratic values.

"India is part of the daily lives in the US. We enjoy Jhumpa Lahiri's novels along with samosas. We laugh at the comedies of Mindy Kaling. We dance to the beats of Diljit Dosanjh at Coachella. Mr Prime Minister, I can say this from personal experience, we keep ourselves more or less fit and healthy doing yoga," he said.

Blinken said the US is enriched by the thriving Indian diaspora.

"Doctors, teachers, engineers, business leaders, public servants, almost all, it seemed, were on the White House lawn yesterday to greet you," he told PM Modi.

"Vice President Kamala Harris' mother came from Tamil Nadu to help unlock the secrets of cancer. A man whose father came to the US with a bus ticket and USD 14 in his pocket, became the first Indian-American to be United States Ambassador to India.

"Today, Richard Rahul Verma serves as the deputy secretary of state for management and resources. He is the highest-ranking Indian-American official in the department's history," Blinken said.

He claimed the strongest bond between India and the US is that people of both countries "believe profoundly in opportunity."

"Whether we call it the American dream or the Indian dream, whether it's the son of an immigrant from Jalandhar rising through the State Department or a tea seller becoming prime minister, no matter who we are or where we come from, we can make something more of ourselves," Bilken added.