India ties intensified in first 100 days: US

Our help has catalytic effect on others: Official

Washington: The US hopes its Covid assistance to India has a catalytic effect on society and around the world to come to the country’s aid. The US is delivering essential medical supplies worth more than USD100 million to India in the coming days. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, “Our assistance, we hope, will have a catalytic effect on society more broadly here and around the world to come to the aid of the Indian people.” PTI

‘Working to expand oxygen supply chain in India’

Washington: The Biden administration is working to expand the oxygen supply chain in India to save lives and wage a successful battle against what has now become one of the worst outbreaks of the pandemic in the world, said Jeremy Konyndyk, Senior Advisor coordinating agency-wide Covid efforts at the US Agency for International Development (USAID). PTI

Washington, April 30

The relationship between India and the US has intensified in the first 100 days of the Biden administration, a State Department official said here. The engagement between the two countries during this period reflects a global comprehensive partnership, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, asserting that there has been a concerted focus on India over these 100 days.

“President Biden, of course, did make mention of India in his (State of the Union) address last night, and I think you can look at that deep partnership and commitment to partnership through any number of lenses,” Price said at his daily news conference.

Biden himself had an opportunity to speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently. Secretary of State Tony Blinken has engaged with his counterpart, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, several times as well, he said. There have been several high-level delegations. Special Envoy on Climate Change John Kerry was in India not all that long ago. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in India to discuss elements of India-US security cooperation, Price said.

“We have engaged with India in a multilateral context as well through the Quad, both at the ministerial level and, for the first time ever, at the leader level,” he said. — PTI