Need to take advantage of Indo-US relationship: Congressmen

Washington, Feb 28: The current momentum in India-US relationship, resulting after two high profile meetings between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, needs to be tapped and taken advantage of, according to top American lawmakers.

"To take advantage of the momentum and move forward especially in our economic partnership," said Congressman Ami Bera, Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans at a luncheon organised jointly by the Indian embassy and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

"We need to harness the energy and success of the Indian American community and recognise the increasing significance of investments by Indian companies in the US," Bera said. Reflecting on his recent trip to India with Obama, Bera said the strategic values and compatibility that India and the US share. In the last eight months the conversation surrounding the relationship has grown to one of optimism and endless opportunities, he added.

In his opening remarks, Congressman George Holding, Co- Chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans lauded the tremendous progress made in advancing the US-India partnership and highlighted the important role that Indian companies are playing through their significant investment and creation of jobs in the US - a lesser-known but equally critical side of the India - US bilateral partnership.

Bringing together key stakeholders on Capitol Hill, the session "India-US Partnership: Shared Effort-Progress for All," focused on the sea change in the US-India relationship, particularly given Obama's recent substantive visit to India, and the shared path forward between the two countries.

Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Charge d'Affaires, Embassy of India, relayed the primary deliverables of Obama's visit to India, commenting that the relations between India and the US have never been as strong.

"Our long standing strategic relationship has been upgraded with Delhi Declaration of Friendship committing both nations to elevate the Strategic Dialogue to a Strategic and Commercial Dialogue to advance mutual prosperity," he said. Reiterating Prime Minister Modi's commitment to be open for business and deepen ties with the US, Sandhu discussed the positive developments between India and the US in sectors such as defense, renewable energy and education. He also noted the significant contribution of Indian and US companies to advancing this relationship.

PTI