Real friends can ‘disagree’, but they always ‘resolve’ their differences: US Ambassador Gor

Minutes after assuming charge as the US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor on Monday showed a glimmer of hope on reviving the stalled India-US ties saying, real friends can ‘disagree’, but they always ‘resolve’ their differences.

For the US no partner is ‘more essential’ than India, said Gor adding he was aiming to take the partnership between the two nations to the ‘next level’. The new Ambassador, who is close aide of US President Donald Trump, testified to Trump ‘friendship’ with  Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying: “I can attest that his ( Trump's) friendship with Prime Minister Modi is real”.

“The US and India are bound not just by shared interests but by a relationship anchored at the highest levels. Real friends can disagree, but they always resolve their differences”, Gor said as he struck a positive note on his first day in office.

Gor, whose appointment  filled in the Ambassadorial  vacancy at New Delhi after a gap of an year, “India would be invited next month to be part of the US-led ‘PaxSilica’  a strategic initiative to build a secure, prosperous, and innovation-driven silicon supply chain from critical minerals and energy inputs to advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, AI development and logistics.

“India will be invited to join this group of nations ( of PAxSilica) as a full member next month”. The US, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Israel are part of it.

On the staled trade negotiations Gor sounded positive saying, " Both sides continue to actively engage. In fact, the next call on trade will occur tomorrow”. India, he added  is the world's largest nation. So it's not an easy task to get this across the finish line. “We are determined to get there and while trade is very important for our relationship”.

Indian goods entering the US , for now, face a massive 50 per cent tariff, including a 25 per cent punitive tariff for buying Russian crude.

Gor said India and the US would continue to work closely on very important areas such as security,  counter-terrorism, energy, technology, education, and health. On taking the partnership forward he said “ I have a clear mission: to take the partnership between our two nations to the next level. This is the intersection between the world's oldest democracy and the world's largest democracy”.

India and the US as true strategic partners, each bringing strength, respect, and leadership to the table, Gor said and termed his tenure “as an incredible once in a lifetime opportunity to redefine diplomacy. What it can accomplish could be the most consequential global partnership of this century..."

Gor hoped, Trump will be visiting India soon. “Hopefully in the next year or two,” he added.