U.S.-India relationship has bright path ahead: top American diplomat

US-India relationship enters era of convergence with solid foundations and bright future, says top Biden official.

The US-India relationship has entered an era of convergence with solid foundations and bright path ahead, a top Biden administration official has said.

Richard Verma, the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, said the two nations now have greater convergence on how to work together and how they assess shared global threats and opportunities.

“I think it is safe to say we have entered an era of convergence in US-India ties, especially in the past three and a half years," Mr. Verma said in his address on Monday (September 16, 2024) at an event titled 'The United States and India: Milestones Reached and the Pathway Ahead' at the Hudson Institute think-tank.

Mr. Verma is the highest-ranking Indian American ever in the State Department.

He said like any other country, the US and India do not agree on everything. "Yet this is an era that now has solid foundations and a bright path ahead,” said Mr. Verma, who served as US Ambassador to India from 2015 to 2017. There are at least four important vectors -- science and technology, building and developing the architecture of the Indo-Pacific and multilateral institutions, defence and trade and people-to-people relationships -- where two nations can work together in the coming years.

“So long as we are not complacent and do not take the recent gains of the past quarter century for granted, then I do believe our years ahead can be even better, even stronger, and even more impactful," he said.

"I wholeheartedly believe this era of convergence will and must continue,” Mr. Verma said.