PM Narendra Modi delivered a keynote address at the US-India Business Council Ideas Summit.

Delivering his keynote address at the annual ‘India Ideas Summit’ of the US India Business Council (USIBC), Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday made a fresh investment pitch to investors and said there is a “global optimism” towards India.

“Today, there is global optimism towards India. This is because India offers a perfect combination of openness, opportunities and options. Let me elaborate. India celebrates openness in people and in governance,” PM Modi said in his virtual address.

Alluding to the coronavirus impact on the global economy, PM Modi emphasised on the importance of “global economic resilience”.

“Recent experience has taught us that the global economy has been too focused on efficiency and optimization. Efficiency is a good thing. But, on the way, we forgot to focus on something equally important. That is resilience against external shocks,” he said, adding that it can be achieved by stronger domestic economic capacities.

“This means improved domestic capacity for manufacturing, restoring the health of the financial system and diversification of international trade,” he said, adding that India is contributing towards a prosperous and resilient world through the clarion call of an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

Describing India as a “land of opportunities”, PM Modi called for investment in a number of sectors ranging from technology, agriculture, energy, space, aviation, defence and healthcare.

“Every year, we are reaching record highs in FDI. Each year is significantly higher than the earlier one. FDI inflows in India in 2019-20 were 74 billion dollars. This is an increase of 20 per cent from the year before that,” Modi said, adding that the India-US partnership should now play an important role in helping the world bounce back faster after the pandemic.

The US-India friendship has scaled many heights in the past. Now it is time our partnership plays an important role in helping the world bounce back faster after the pandemic: PM @narendramodi

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) July 22, 2020

Modi’s address came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In his address, Pompeo called India a “rising US defense and security partner” and trained his guns on China, saying the recent clashes “initiated” by the Chinese military in eastern Ladakh were the latest examples of the “unacceptable behaviour” of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

“The recent clashes initiated by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are just the latest examples of the Chinese Communist Party’s unacceptable behaviour. We were deeply saddened by the deaths of 20 Indian service members. I’m confident that with our concerted efforts, we can protect our interests,” Pompeo said in his virtual keynote address.

The remarks come amid India and the US intensifying intelligence and military collaboration and cooperation at an unprecedented level, more so in the last month.

For the second time, Pompeo also praised India’s decision to ban 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, which he said were “security risks” to the Indian people.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar. (File)

“It’s important that democracies like ours work together, especially as we see more clear than ever the true scope of the challenge posed by the Chinese communist party. Our infrastructure projects, our supply chains, our sovereignty, and our people’s health and safety are all at risk. If we get it wrong,” Pompeo said.

Underscoring that New Delhi was an important partner and a key pillar of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy strategy, Pompeo said India had earned the trust of many nations around the world, including the United States.

“We work closely together to make sure that the world intellectual property organisation election was won by someone who respects property rights. I am confident our partnership is only getting stronger,” he said.

India, Pompeo said, had a chance to attract global supply chains away from China and reduce its reliance on Chinese companies in like telecommunications, medical supplies and others.

“We also had to work with India to advance the blue.network, an initiative to promote high quality, transparent infrastructure development,” he said.