India-US projects will change the world, can together ensure freedom of skies, seas: Garcetti

INTERNATIONAL DESK: There’s a revolutionary transition underway in the United States to ease India’s access to critical technologies, US ambassador Eric Garcetti said Wednesday as he described Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to America as a celebration of the defining partnership of this century and the unprecedented GE-HAL jet engine deal as one based on trust.

The ambassador said the visit showed how ties were accelerating at breathtaking speed and that the projects India and the US were working on together will change the world.

Garcetti also said that India and the US can build a bulwark against the “might makes right” mentality at a time countries were ignoring sovereign borders and advancing their claims through violence and destruction. “This is not the world we want. This is not the world we need,’’ said the ambassador, without naming Russia or China.

Emphasising on security cooperation and protecting borders, he said India and the US can deploy ships together in the Pacific and Indian oceans for maritime security and employ their air forces across the Indo-Pacific to ensure freedom of the skies and the seas, and bolster the defence of like-minded countries.

Prime Minister Modi’s visit, with its focus on removing defence and hi-tech trade barriers, was seen as a resounding success but in the days that succeeded, a controversy broke out over former president Barack Obama’s remarks on the issue of human rights in India. At IIT-Delhi, Garcetti said the US will continue to engage with India on human rights issues “as we have always done, and as we do in all countries around the world” but added this was an area he approached with great humility.

“The United States continues to learn through hard experience how important it is to be honest about our challenges and confront them head on. As Mahatma Gandhi phrased it so well, our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and test of our civilisation,” he said, while recalling Vice President Kamala Harris’ remark last week that it’s important to not just have democracy but to also work to defend it. “In America, we’re still not perfect, and the American experiment continues alongside the American dream,” he said. The White House also strongly condemned earlier this week online targeting of a WSJ reporter for asking PM Modi during his visit last week a question related to minority rights in India.

In his address, while talking about technology cooperation and co-production of military equipment, Garcetti reiterated remarks by the White House earlier that the design and use of technology by India and the US will be based on shared democratic values and respect for universal human rights.

“Unfortunately, not everyone shares that vision. There are those who would prefer to use technology as an authoritarian weapon, to intimidate their neighbours and control their own citizens. That’s why we’re diversifying and deepening our supply chains with trusted partners and reducing dependencies that put our peoples at risk,’’ said the ambassador.

“When the US and India work together to co-produce military equipment, we create a state-of-the-art system at a sustainable cost and with resilient supply chains for India, the United States, and our partners. The announcements made during Prime Minister Modi’s official state visit set a marker and highlighted incredible potential,’’ he added. (TOI)