Pitching for an India-US partnership "beyond trade", External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday that Washington should learn to work in a multi-polar world and beyond old alliances. He added that India and US can together lead the world out of crisis.
"I think the US really has to learn to work with a more multi-polar world with more pluri-lateral arrangements, go beyond alliances with which it has grown up in the last two generations," said Jaishankar at the Ideas Summit hosted by the US-India Business Council.
Speaking in a session titled: 'Leading in Times of Crisis: Perspectives on US Cooperation' attended by US Senator Mark Warner, Jaishankar said that Washington and New Delhi should focus on geopolitical basket and people-to-people ties as they have the potential to create a durable bilateral relationship.
"There are two big baskets to the issue we should be looking at. These are two drivers of a stronger relationship -- one is the geopolitical basket and other is people-to-people ties," Jaishankar said.
"Each one is game-changer in themselves and they reinforce each other. They have the potential to create a durable relationship between India and the US," the minister said, adding that beyond trade, there is a much bigger connect between India and the US which he called knowledge innovation.
The virtual summit will see a high-level presence from Indian and US government policymakers, state-level officials and thought leaders from business and society. Other key speakers at the summit include Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo among others.
The India Ideas Summit will witness discussions on areas including India-US cooperation. The future of the relation between India and the US in a post-pandemic world will also be discussed in the summit.
Meanwhile, talking about trade issues between India and US, Jaishankar said, "For Indo-US relations, we need to think beyond trade. I learnt it a long time back that these are bread and butter issues. This is how countries deal with each other. Conversations are dominated by debates on trade problems. One important point is that India has changed as a country. It now has areas where it can make its presence felt. Established players generally want the rules that benefit then to stay that way. In a fair manner, genuine concerns of emerging players should also be considered. How well we harmonise that will decide our future course. And that is where we believe USICB will play an important part."
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