The United States has helped establish world-class higher education institutes in India, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said today, while claiming this is why India is now home to 900 American firms.
Unveiling the Trump Administration's economic strategy for advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific, Pompeo said, "We helped establish the first Indian Institute of Technology, along with 14 regional engineering colleges and eight agricultural universities across India."
The first IIT was set up at Kharagpur in West Bengal in 1951.
"World-class higher education is one reason India is now home to 900 American firms, and why US-India trade has grown from USD 19 billion in 2001 to more than USD 126 billion today," the US Secretary of State said in his address to the first Indo-Pacific Business Forum organised by the US Chambers of Commerce.
Reiterating the Trump Administration's commitment to the Indo-Pacific region, Pompeo said President Donald Trump first outlined his vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Vietnam last year.
"The National Security Strategy also detailed this vision, and Secretary of Defense (James) Mattis recently joined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other regional leaders in Singapore to speak about the principles of freedom, openness, sovereignty, and transparency in the Indo-Pacific," he said.
Pompeo was referring to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in June where Prime Minister Modi made the keynote address on India's place in the Indo-Pacific region.
Pompeo and James Mattis are scheduled to travel to New Delhi in the first week of September for the first '2+2 dialogue' with India.
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