Deepening ties with India in several areas, says U.S.

U.S. strengthens economic and security ties with India, emphasizing continued cultivation of relationship, as stated by senior official.

The U.S. is deepening its ties with India in several key areas, including economic and security cooperation, a senior official has said, emphasising that Washington will continue to cultivate this relationship.

State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel made the remarks on July 1 at his daily news conference in response to a question on U.S.-India relations and the recent conversation between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the recent G7 Summit in Italy.

"India is a country in which we are deepening our relations within a number of key spaces, especially as it relates to deepening our economic ties, deepening our security cooperation," Mr. Patel told reporters.

President Biden "had the opportunity to briefly see Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi in the margins of the G7 a couple of weeks ago," he added.

“So this is an area where we will continue to cultivate this relationship," he said.

Noting that the US hosted Prime Minister Modi for a state visit last year, he said, "I imagine there will be a number of additional areas where we continue to deepen cooperation." Prime Minister Modi visited the U.S. in June last year at the invitation of President Biden during which the two countries signed a raft of mega defence, trade and space cooperation agreements.

Mr. Patel added that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visited India a few weeks ago too.