India-US indispensable partners, working closer on more issues: PM Modi

The relationship between India and the US has transformed in the last two and half years and they have become indispensable partners, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday. Speaking at a luncheon hosted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's honour at the White House, he said from semiconductors to space and from education to food security, India and the US are working closer together on more issues than ever before.

Modi is on a State Visit to the US from June 21-24 at the invitation of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.

"During the last two and a half years, we have transformed the relationship between our countries. We are working closer together on more issues than ever before. From semiconductors to space, from education to food security. The energy, ambition, and potential of our cooperation is boundless," Blinken said.


"The US and India have become, as the prime minister has put it, indispensable partners," he said and added that this "partnership, President Biden has said, is the defining relationship of the 21st century".

Together the countries are promoting greater peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and around the globe, combating disease, responding to natural disasters, strengthening maritime security and standing up for the principles at the heart of the United Nations Charter, he said.

India and the US, Blinken said, are working to safeguard the planet for future generations, developing affordable solar panels and sustainable aviation fuels. "We are driving opportunity and innovation, from entrepreneurs powering our economies to US companies investing in India and vice versa," he said.

The secretary of state also said that the cutting edge research that India and the US are jointly advancing, from quantum to artificial intelligence, is helping to sustain technological edge and shaping a digital future that safeguards democratic values.