India, U.S. building foundation for strong, peaceful global community: Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was addressing Indian Americans at an event in Washington D.C. organised by the Indian Embassy to celebrate the country’s diversity

India and the US are together building a foundation for a strong, peaceful and harmonious global community, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.

"When we celebrate diversity, celebrate inclusiveness, it is also the point that we share a lot of positive thoughts when we are doing this," the Finance Minister said.

Today when "we celebrate togetherness, it is that spirit which governs India and US relationship: a positive thinking relationship of two democracies, which have their own share of challenges and their own share of internal problems, but we don't allow them to overwhelm us", she said.

The Minister was addressing Indian Americans at an event organised by the Indian Embassy here to celebrate the country's diversity.

"We are together and building strong foundations for a strong, peaceful and harmonious global community. That's where, I think, the contribution of the Indian diaspora, here people of Indian origin, to the U.S. is very important," she said.

"You integrated yourself or do you recall with fondness the place of your origin, but you're part of the US today and building a very dynamic and robust economy," Ms. Sitharaman said.

"This is exactly what is even in India. Differences are there between different regions, different people and different languages," she said.