The Biden administration has marked India as one of the country’s most consequential relationships. The statement came on Monday, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit next month.
"Our partnership with India is one of our most consequential relationships and we work closely with India on a number of vital priorities. The state visit is an opportunity to deepen some of these partnerships, whether it be ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific and ensuring that it is a region that is more connected, more prosperous, more secure and more resilient," Vedant Patel, the state department's Deputy Press Secretary told reporters at a conference, PTI reported.
At the conference, Patel stressed on the new opportunities the relationship between the two countries creates and highlighted the potential it has to tackle important issues like global health and the climate crisis.
"Obviously, between India and the United States, there exists an opportunity to deepen trade issues, deepen security partnerships. There is an opportunity to address some shared global challenges like global health and addressing the climate crisis. So again, I am not going to get ahead of the state visit, but we very much look forward to hosting the Indian government," Patel added.
Vedant highlighted the importance of the Secretary of State Tony Blinken, the country's and the president's chief diplomat and one of his most trusted and longest-serving foreign policy advisors. Blinken is extensively involved in materialising PM Modi’s state visit.
“We of course are in constant communication with our partners at the White House on things like state visits and visits by foreign dignitaries and things of that sort," the Deputy Press Secretary said.
"But I am not going to get into the specific deliberations beyond that. And like I said, our partnership with India is one of the most consequential and it is why we are very much looking forward to hosting them in a state visit next month," he added.
He then reiterated the importance of the relationship from a trade perspective while also emphasising on the cultural exchange opportunities it creates for the two sprawling democracies.
"Our partnership with India is one of our most consequential and of course, deepening our trade relationship is a key priority and has been one as it relates to our partnership with India. Of course, another key component of this is our deep cultural exchanges and people-to-people ties as we are both democracies," he said.
He also expressed eagerness to welcome Indian students into the United States and stated that it could be achieved with an appropriate visa system.
"We are eager to welcome Indian students interested in studying here through the appropriate visa systems and otherwise," he said.