India’s strategic relationship with US matters the most

US President Donald Trump’s first visit to India, also the first standalone visit by any US president to the country, comes at a time the Indo-US relationship has evolved into India’s most consequential strategic partnership. As foreign secretary Harsh Shringla said recently, whether in countering terrorism or ensuring a peaceful Indo-Pacific, India and US have unprecedented convergence of interests.
The two countries have more than 50 bilateral inter-governmental dialogue mechanisms for exchange of views on issues of mutual interest, many of them at the ministerial level.
While defence and counter-terror cooperation has dominated headlines in the recent past, relations are equally robust in other areas like science and technology, space, energy, education, diaspora and regional and international cooperation.
The scope of the relationship has a large people-to-people component. “The size of the Indian diaspora in the US is estimated at around 4 million, with a million of NRIs. There are more than 200,000 Indian students in the US. There is comprehensive engagement among our academics, scientists, professionals and other stakeholders,” said Shringla last week.
According to MEA, both countries are collaborating and coordinating on a number of regional and global issues in both security as well as development spheres. They are also engaged in areas such as maritime and cyber security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts. The US has expressed support for India’s permanent membership on a reformed United Nations Security Council and for India’s early membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.