‘Unbelievable, visionary’: US Commerce Secretary Raimondo praises PM Modi

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an "unbelievable, visionary" and the most popular world leader with the commitment and desire to move India forward as a global power is real.

Raimondo who was in India last month, recounted her recent interactions with Prime Minister Modi, during an event hosted by the Indian Embassy here on Saturday.

"I had an incredible opportunity to spend more than an hour and a half with Prime Minister Modi. He is the most popular world leader for a reason. He is unbelievable, visionary and his level of commitment to the people of India is just indescribable and deep and passionate and real and authentic. And his desire to lift people out of poverty and move India forward as a global power is real, and it is happening," Raimondo said amid thunderous applause from the audience.

"The best part of the meeting for me was this. Anyone who knows Prime Minister Modi, all of you knows, he is a tech guy and he is deep into the details. So, I found myself at his home at 7.30 on a Friday night, talking about the details of radio access networks and artificial intelligence. It was just amazing," she said.

Raimondo was in India last month for the India-US Commercial Dialogue and India-US CEO Forum meeting.

She led a high-powered business delegation to India.

"In the years to come, there will be two ecosystems of technology. One consistent with our democratic values and another not. I said to him, the United States and India need to lead the world together in this technology ecosystem. Without missing a beat, after he travelled all week, he said to me, well, Secretary AI doesn't stand for artificial intelligence. He said, ''AI is America-India technology," she said.

Raimondo, 51, said that going forward, India and the US would lead the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.

"We're entering into a new era of even deeper collaboration and partnership between the United States and India. I use that word partnership deliberately, young partnership equal partners working together," she said.

Raimondo acknowledged that the best of India was at display during her visit, in terms of culture, tradition and celebrations.

"When I was in India, I met with women, and by the way, amazing female weavers and artisans. I met with some of your unicorn entrepreneurs. I met with investors. I met with the biggest CEOs. India has arrived, India has more than arrived. This is a fact. And now what we need to do is deepen the relationship between the United States and India," she said.

"Because what we share, as minister (Nirmala) Sitharaman said, democracy is messy. Our democracy is diverse, messy, and imperfect, as is yours but we value diversity, we value education, we value human rights, we value equality," she added.

Meanwhile, pictures and video clips of Raimondo playing Holi have gone viral on social media and reflect the strong relationship between the US and India.