India-US working to address regional, global challenges: Blinken after Jaishankar meeting

Washington: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his US counterpart Antony Blinken met in Washington DC and discussed working together to address regional and global challenges.

Jaishankar — on his first visit to the US capital since the third Modi government took office — met Blinken on Tuesday at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the US State Department.

Blinken said after the meeting, “Together, the US and India are working to address regional and global challenges. External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and I met to discuss our continued cooperation on the climate crisis and ways we can promote regional security and prosperity.” Jaishankar, meanwhile, said, “Delighted to hold talks with Blinken in Washington DC. We followed up on the Delaware bilateral and the QUAD meetings. Our discussions also covered deepening bilateral cooperation, the situation in West Asia, recent developments in the Indian subcontinent, the Indo-Pacific and Ukraine.” The minister was referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden.

The US president hosted Modi at his Delaware residence for a bilateral meeting on September 21. They were later joined by leaders from Australia and Japan for the QUAD Leaders’ Summit in Wilmington, Delaware.

According to US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, Jaishankar and Blinken “discussed the United States and India’s enduring commitment to deepening bilateral ties, coordinating closely on regional and global challenges, and advancing cooperation on critical and emerging technologies”.

“Blinken noted Prime Minister Modi’s August visit to Kyiv and reiterated the importance of a just and lasting peace for Ukraine,” he said and added that plans to expand collaboration on clean energy initiatives to address the global climate crisis were also discussed.

Welcoming Jaishankar earlier, US Secretary of State Blinken said the warmth of Biden and Modi’s recent meeting and the ambition in the relationship were at a level never seen before.

“I think it’s a reflection of the value that both countries attach to this partnership — a partnership in so many different areas, including strategic technology sectors, space, semiconductors, clean energy, where our countries increasingly are working together and creating new opportunities for people in both India and the United States but also, more broadly than that, around the world. Of course, the critical role that India plays on the global stage, working for peace, stability, security — here as well, we are doing more and more together,” he said.

“So, coming off the UN General Assembly, coming off the meetings that we had with the QUAD and bilaterally, this is a good opportunity for us to take stock of the many issues that we are working together on — working together in a way that betters the lives of our own people and I think makes a positive contribution to the world,” Blinken added.

Earlier in the day, Jaishankar had taken part in a discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a top American think tank.

He said of his meeting with Blinken, “Let me begin by thanking you for a great meeting between the prime minister and the president in Delaware, for a very, very good QUAD meeting. I think it gave us an opportunity to take stock of the many areas where that mechanism has progressed.” “I think, on the bilateral side, there is a lot that we have done since our last meeting but there are global issues to discuss, including some of the events you mentioned today,” the external affairs minister added.