US India friendship, not a tit-for-tat business: Blake
May 14th, 2011 - 12:00 pm ICT by IANS
Washington, May 14 (IANS) The United States has voiced deep disappointment at India did not choosing US bidders for its $12 billion fighter jet deal but said it would not affect their long-term friendship as “natural economic partners.”
“The US-India partnership is a long-term friendship, not a tit-for-tat business arrangement,” Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake, said Friday at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think-tank.
“We are natural economic partners. In fact, we are now extending our economic partnership to benefit third countries,” he said speaking on “The Current State of US-India Cooperation and Prospects for the Future.”
“For the first time in our history, the United States and India have jointly approached three African countries with a proposal to collaborate on building agricultural capacity,” Blake said.
“As a result, India has become an integral part of the President’s Feed the Future initiative, which has taken on greater importance with the possible return of higher food prices,” he said.
Neither country can take the relationship for granted, Blake said stressing the need to work together to ensure that the initiatives launched during President Barack Obama’s India visit are implemented.
“This will build the political support in Washington and Delhi, as well as Mumbai and Manhattan, to think more ambitiously about what we can achieve, and where our partnership will go.”
Seeking support of “our people, our businesses, our diverse, intertwined knowledge based societies” for the next chapter of the US-India partnership, Blake cited a saying of Indian poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore, “the great Bengali son and hero to all Indians” that “you can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”
Blake also voiced hope that India would pursue a new round of economic reforms, including liberalising its retail and defence sectors, after the recent conclusion of state assembly elections.
“We’ve received some indications that there may be some progress in some of these areas over the coming six months now that this most recent round of elections is behind them,” he said.
“This is a sovereign decision to be made by our Indian friends, but this is something that is going to benefit them,” he said.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
- India seeks framework to boost worker mobility with US - Mar 08, 2012
- Pak can't take any irresponsible step to stop US drone attacks: Gilani - Jan 02, 2011
- US seeks business help to leverage India-US partnership - Apr 26, 2011
- CPI-M promises action against Kerala leader - May 29, 2012
- US to focus economic dialogue on India's vast potential (Lead) - Jun 23, 2011
- India plugs trillion dollar opportunity in infrastructure (Daylead) - Jun 29, 2011
- 'US counts on the rise of India as a global power' - Sep 29, 2011
- Business ties, AfPak to be 'big focus' of Obama visit - Oct 02, 2010
- Roemer quitting as US envoy for 'family reasons' (Lead) - Apr 28, 2011
- India, US to deepen ties in reforms, infrastructure finance - Jun 29, 2011
- Building strong economic plank key to taking US-India strategic ties forward: Official - Jan 28, 2011
- India-US economic dialogue to focus on India's vast potential - Jun 23, 2011
- India woos US with $1 trillion infrastructure business (Evening Lead) - Jun 29, 2011
- 'India presents fantastic opportunities for US firms' - Jan 26, 2011
- Roemer quitting as US ambassador to India - Apr 28, 2011
Tags: african countries, barack obama, bengali, business arrangement, central asia, centre for strategic and international studies, defence sectors, economic partners, economic partnership, economic reforms, fighter jet, food prices, india partnership, india visit, indian poet, poet laureate, rabindranath tagore, recen, robert blake, term friendship