Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “instrumental” in forging a consensus at the recent G20 summit in Bali which finally led all countries to agree to a joint statement, a senior US official said in Washington. At an event organised by the Indian embassy in Washington, principal deputy NSA Jon Finer also said 2022 had been a huge year in the history of India-US relations and that the next year will be even bigger, while asserting that the Biden administration sees this alliance as among the most consequential relationships for America anywhere in the world.
“Looking around the world when the United States and (its) President (Joe) Biden look for partners that can truly help carry the load, truly help move forward a global agenda, India and Prime Minister Modi are very high on that list,” Finer told the gathering of several hundred Indian-Americans. “We just saw this in real-time at the G20 where PM Modi was instrumental in forging a consensus around a joint statement among a far-flung group of countries and in the comments and work that the prime minister has done and others in the Indian government have done to highlight the increasing risk related to nuclear issues. ”
Reflecting on his views on the India-US relationship, Finer reiterated the administration’s commitment to it and said 2022 and 2023 are two critical years for this.
“The year 2022 was huge in US-India relations. We think we have an even bigger year ahead in 2023. We have the Quad summit on the agenda coming up. We have India’s G20 presidency, which I know we’re all looking forward to, including PM Modi,” he said in his address.
