Modi most popular, visionary leader: US Secy of Commerce

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most popular leader and is a visionary, United States Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said adding that his commitment to the people of India is “indescribable”.

Addressing the Reception at India House, which was hosted by Indian Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Raimondo said, “I had an incredible opportunity to spend more than an hour and a half with Prime Minister Modi, who is I don’t need to tell anyone here who he is. He is the most popular world leader for a reason. He is an unbelievable visionary. And his level of commitment to the people of India is just indescribable and deep and passionate and real and authentic.” “And his desire to lift people out of poverty and move India forward as a global power is real and it is happening. But the best part of the meeting for me was this, anyone who knows Prime Minister Modi, all of you, knows he is a tech guy and he is deep into the details. So I found myself at his home at 7:30 on a Friday night, talking about the details of radio access networks and artificial intelligence. And it was just amazing,” she added.

At the reception, other than Raimondo, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Ambassador Sandhu and coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs in the National Security Council, Kurt Campbell, were also present.

Recalling her last meeting, Raimondo said that while conversing with PM Modi, she told him that there will be two ecosystems of technology, one consistent with our democratic values and another not and India and the US needs to lead the world together in this technology ecosystem.

Quoting PM Modi, Raimondo said he replied that AI doesn’t stand for artificial intelligence but for America, India, technology, and ecosystem.

Earlier, in March, PM Modi met with Raimondo, who was in India from March 7-10, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Saturday.

During her visit to India, Raimondo met Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and held delegation-level talks on Friday.

A Commercial Dialogue was held and several Memorandums of Understanding were signed between India and the US.

During the joint statement, the US Secretary of Commerce said both India and the US have recognised that they have to be a quality supplier and consumer of goods and services.

India and the US signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the semiconductor supply chain and innovation partnership, re-launched with a strategic outlook with a focus on supply chain resiliency and diversification and new emerging areas, after a gap of three years.

The last India-US Commercial Dialogue was held in February 2019. Since then, due to the pandemic and other factors it could not be held. (THE STATESMAN)