Acknowledging that India and the US were two different countries with different backgrounds, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said the bondage between the two nations outweighed the differences.
“It is true we are different countries with different backgrounds. We will disagree from time to time as two friends will do. But we believe our differences are far outweighed by the bondage,” Ms Clinton said, addressing students and opinion makers at Anna Centenary Library here. She was on her maiden visit to the southern city of Chennai.
“We have a common commitment to fight terrorism and achieve economic prosperity,” Ms Clinton said. She enlisted a range of areas where India and US were cooperating, from clean energy technologies, tackling cyber attacks, boosting bilateral investments to addressing concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Recalling US president aBarack Obama’s words last year, she said the relationship between India and the US would be one of “defining partnership of the 21st century”.
On India’s growing leadership role, Ms Clinton said, “India is today taking its rightful place in meeting rooms and conference halls where the world’s consequential questions are debated and decided.” In this context, she also pointed to the efforts of the US President to get a permanent membership for India in the UN Security Council
Urging India to take a lead in economic integration with its neighbours, the US diplomat who was addressing a public meeting after she wound up her second strategic dialogue in New Delhi, said, “This is not a time when any of us can afford to look inward at the expense of looking outward. This is a time to seize the opportunities of the 21st century and it is a time to lead.”
She also said the US was betting high on India’s future and opening of its markets to the world would bring more prosperity to India and South Asia.