Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to US Presidentelect Joe Biden on Tuesday to congratulate him on his victory and reiterate India’s firm commitment to its strategic partnership with the United States. In the phone call from Biden, PM Modi also offered his congratulations to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, saying that her success was a matter of pride for the IndianAmerican community.
“Spoke to US President-elect Joe Biden on phone to congratulate him. We reiterated our firm commitment to the Indo-US strategic partnership and discussed our shared priorities and concerns— the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific Region,” PM Modi tweeted at around midnight on Tuesday. “I also conveyed warm congratulations for Vice Presidentelect Kamala Harris. Her success is a matter of great pride and inspiration for members of the vibrant Indian-American community, who are a tremendous source of strength for Indo-US relations,” he added.
Biden, who will take over as US President in January, told PM Modi that alongside Kamala Harris he wants to strengthen and expand relations between their countries. Working closely on Covid-19 figured in their phone call on Tuesday, Biden’s transition organisation’s readout of the conversation said.
“The President-elect thanked the Prime Minister for his congratulations and expressed his desire to strengthen and expand the US-India strategic partnership alongside the first Vice President of South Asian descent,” according to the readout.
“The President-elect noted that he looks forward to working closely with the Prime Minister on shared global challenges, including containing Covid-19 and defending against future health crises, tackling the threat of climate change, launching the global economic recovery, strengthening democracy at home and abroad, and maintaining a secure and prosperous IndoPacific region,” it added.
Interestingly, there is no mention of cooperation in counter-terrorism in the readout, which mentions maintaining a secure Indo-Pacific, which was the centrepiece of the Trump administration’s strategic involvement with India.
PM Modi was among the first world leaders to recognise Biden as the winner of the presidential election that is still being questioned by Trump and votes are being counted. He and President Ram Nath Kovind tweeted their congratulations to Biden shortly after the US media declared him the winner based on their projections of the results.
Biden has met Modi during his visit to Washington in 2014 and cohosted along with then-Secretary of State John Kerry a luncheon in his honour. At the luncheon, Biden had said, “You campaigned on some of the very goals we hope to achieve in this relationship: greater investment in India’s economy, a modernized defence sector, inclusive growth for both of our peoples. And your support for economic reform paves the way for the expansion of our nearly $100 billion in trade on a yearly basis.”
Earlier on Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar spoke of positive relations with the Biden administration, noting that the Democrat is “not a stranger” to India. Apart from working together to combat terrorism, climate change and Covid-19, Biden is expected to support India’s UNSC claim.
According to a policy paper released during the election, the President-elect feels “no common global challenge can be solved without India and the US working as responsible partners”