As part of the Motwani Jadeja US-India Dialogue Series funded by the Motwani Jadeja Family Foundation, Hudson Institute’s Dr. Aparna Pande and Deputy Secretary of State Richard R. Verma, the former US ambassador to India, discussed the US-India relationship on September 16, 2024, at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC.
Event Transcript:
Richard R. Verma:
Thank you so much.
Good afternoon, everybody. I really want to thank my friends at the Hudson Institute for this opportunity. And a special word of thanks and appreciation to Dr. Pande.
When you are in government working on a range of global issues, especially in a region with the complexity and importance of South Asia, you rely on experts to analyze the issues, understand the history, and offer a new way of thinking. And no one exemplifies that new way of thinking and creative scholarship more than Dr. Pande.
I’ve read her books, including the landmark “Making India Great: The Promise of a Reluctant Global Power.” Amazing work, such important insights, and I’m looking forward to your next book! No pressure. We entitled this talk “Milestones Reached and the Pathways Ahead.”
So, let me try to cover those two important topics – some of the key turning points in the relationship, and where I think the relationship is headed — and try to do so in 15 minutes or less. Then, I look forward to your questions.
Looking Back
I will say this is exactly the right time to assess where we are in the U.S.-India relationship. We are now entering about a quarter century of progress. Progress that was unimaginable only a few decades ago. For too long, our recent history was not one of cooperation. We were divided by Cold War geopolitics. We lost nearly a generation of progress, from the mid-60s to the late 90s.
But as Prime Minister Modi has rightfully pointed out, we have now overcome those hesitations of history. How was that possible? The progress was driven by a change of policies in both capitals. This took real leadership and creativity in key sectors like energy, security, and trade.
We also faced collective threats to the post-World War II order that spurred much of our new alignment and renewed cooperation. But at the core, it was the hard work of millions of people in our two countries who pulled us closer together by travelling, studying, researching, developing joint products, and taking the risk to immigrate and start over – a route that led to some now four-and-a-half million Americans of Indian descent contributing to every facet of American life.
A journey that my own father undertook in 1963, as he says, starting over with next to nothing.
And now, one generation later, I stand here with all of you as a Deputy Secretary of State.
This is the epitome of the American dream.
But, back to those changes in policies.
It was President Clinton who – once and for all delinked U.S.-India and U.S. – Pakistan policy.
Indo-Pak would be set aside in favor of a robust set of policy initiatives that, as I noted, were not only significant but they were creative, too.
There was no more creative, and – yes – difficult policy decision than to construct the U.S.-India civil nuclear deal.
This was a landmark initiative to deliver safe and reliable nuclear energy to India, while simultaneously bringing India into the international atomic energy compliance and safety regimes.
It took a bold change in thinking in India, and it took leadership here at home, with President Bush and so many others and then Senator Biden from his perch on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to lead the efforts in D.C. and capitals around the world.
As has been noted by scholars here at Hudson and in think tanks across D.C. and Delhi, the deal was critical as it showed that our countries were willing to bend with history and take extraordinary steps that would have lasting effects.
And that certainly proved to be true.
Civil-nuclear cooperation led to new advances in defense cooperation.
The designation of India as a “Major Defense Partner of the United States,” a designation no other nation holds, is a significant marker of our defense relationship, and a testament to strong bipartisan support for the U.S.-India relationship on the Capitol Hill.
Our two militaries understand each other.
It wasn’t that long ago where we weren’t really allowed to talk about interoperability or convergence.
We now practice and train together.
We are now jointly developing and producing some of the world’s most sophisticated systems – all in the name of promoting greater peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
The ripple effects of this cooperation should not be underestimated, especially when integrated into arrangements like the Quad.
As Secretary Austin reminds us, our hub and spoke model of security in the Indo-Pacific has become integrated so those individual spokes now cooperate and collaborate in a more systemic way.
And the Quad is a perfect example of such integrated cooperation.
This leads to another milestone achieved with global ramifications – our joint work in combatting climate change.
From Copenhagen to Paris, there was a sea change in the approach and mutual commitments made to tackle this global challenge.
Once India joined the Paris Agreement, many like-minded countries followed, which spurred the rapid move towards a greener, more sustainable future.
Now we still have significant work to do together, but when two of the three largest emitters work together constructively on the world stage, it sends a powerful signal about the importance and the urgency of the issue to other countries and to private industry to meet this challenge head on.
Finally, let me just reiterate that in the milestones reached category, people-to-people ties have been nothing short of extraordinary.
The economic impact between our two private sectors has been equally impressive.
Our two-way trade numbers have increased tenfold from the year 2000 to today.
Trade between the United States and India accounts for some 425,000 American jobs, according to the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration.
Just look at the past few months, with new commitments from Micron to build a $825 million plant in Gujarat to produce semiconductors.
Look at the Development Finance Corporation’s $500 million commitment to support First Solar’s efforts in India to build solar panels.
And look at the recent commitment to build 10,000 electric buses in India, an investment that will generate thousands of jobs and support sustainable infrastructure development.
That’s on the commercial side. And on the people side –
The number of Indians visiting the United States has also increased substantially.
For example, visas issued during this period increased times five as did the number of Indian students studying in the United States, a category that India now leads.
The same is true for Americans visiting India, which has also reached all-time highs.
As Ambassador to India, I had the privilege of traveling to every Indian state.
People often asked me – ‘why did you do that?’
It’s not an easy thing to do.
It was not only inspiring, but it was a reminder that these people to-people ties are the glue that bind our countries together, through positive and more challenging times.
And we cannot forget this.
People-centered policies and solutions must be at the core of our work together.
When I look back at where we have been and where we are today, I think it is safe to say we have entered an era of convergence in U.S.-India ties, especially in the past three-and-a-half years.
Convergence on how we work together; convergence on how our countries assess shared global threats and opportunities; and convergence on how our people live and work together.
Do we agree on everything?
Of course not; no two countries do.
Yet, this is an era that now has solid foundations and a bright path ahead.
So, let me turn briefly to the future.
Looking Ahead
There are at least four important vectors for our work together in the coming years.
And the one I want to highlight first, as I think in many ways it is the most exciting and far reaching, is in the field of emerging science and technology.
People often ask me, why does the State Department, as part of our Modernization Agenda, have a new cyber bureau, a new global health bureau, and new, far-reaching efforts on climate diplomacy, mineral security, and supply chain reliability?
Well, the answer is quite simple. Our world is changing rapidly; the dramatic advances in technology have launched incredible gains in human progress, and, yes, significant risks too.
But diplomacy is key, along with our work with allies and partners, especially with India.
This means that the U.S.-India partnership will incorporate, at its core, these new tech frontiers to include:
- accelerating clean energy and climate change mitigation;
- delivering new technologies to farmers for smarter and more impactful seeds and crop cultivation;
- working together on vaccine development and preventing the next pandemic to provide greater global health security;
- securing our supply chains for critical minerals and diversifying the sources and reliability of semiconductor production;
- delivering on the promise of artificial intelligence and quantum computing, while putting in the appropriate safeguards to guard against abuses in the information domain and other cyber security threats;
- bringing more people into the digital economy to continue expanding participation and to bring more people into the modern financial eco-system;
And of course,
- working together in exploring space, crafting the rules for engagement, and utilizing the information gleaned to keep our planet more secure.
This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but it offers insight into why we have more than 30 dialogues with our Indian partners, and almost all of them touch on technology in some way.
The second vector will revolve around building and developing the architecture of the Indo-Pacific and multilateral institutions to deliver greater peace and prosperity for people.
Our focus on the Indo-Pacific and India is understandable. Two-thirds of the world’s population and future economic output in the decade ahead will take place from India to Australia and everywhere in between.
The region has an incredible youth dividend, and by 2030, India will lead the world in key categories, like having the largest middle class and the highest number of college graduates.
But the threats to rules-based order and democracy are real and present.
We have to use all the tools at our disposal to continue to defend the gains made in the past decades.
This includes supporting our established configurations like the Quad.
We also have to double down in multilateral institutions like ASEAN, APEC, and, of course, the United Nations.
This is why just last week, Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield, our Ambassador to the United Nations, once again, called for India to have a permanent seat on a reformed United Nations Security Council.
We welcome and support India playing a more prominent global leadership role in the institutions that matter.
This vector directly relates to what President Biden and Prime Minister Modi have shared for our bilateral relationship to deliver for the world.
Can our bilateral gains indeed have a big global impact as well?
They absolutely can.
Whether it is our work on global health or food security, or in combatting cancer or by delivering faster, more affordable, and reliable energy transition alternatives, or, frankly, simply demonstrating how our democracies deliver for our peoples and the world, there is no question the United States and India can secure a better future for hundreds of millions.
This is the real promise of the relationship.
Growing cooperation on defense and trade will undoubtedly also continue to be a core vector in the partnership.
Both are on very solid footing, but we have more work to do.
Continued export control reform, movement to greater defense integration and co-production, and increasing our intelligence sharing and maritime domain and space cooperation are all key to enhancing security in the years ahead.
On the economics and commercial side, we must work towards transparent, fair, and open regulatory processes, where businesses operate on a level playing field, creating jobs, and solving the issues that matter for the people in both countries.
The final vector is less about government strategic aims and more on the need to support people, as again, our people are at the heart of this relationship.
I know the political scientists in the room may say the only thing that matters is the strategic interests of each country and that people are secondary.
I wholeheartedly disagree with that premise.
The fact is that people-to-people ties have propelled this relationship forward, and we have to continue to support and lift them up.
It is why we are opening new consulates in India and why we have worked so hard to reduce the wait times and visa backlogs.
It is why we have doubled down on our cooperation in arts, sports, culture, women’s empowerment, and so much more.
It is why the student experience for Indians studying in the United States is so important to us, and we strive to make that better and easier each year.
And, yes, it is why the immigrant experience is such a powerful part of this relationship, built and facilitated by the shared values of our two populations.
We’ve seen the incredible gains, from one of our astronauts in space today, to members of Congress, to so many in our military, to the doctors in our hospitals and teachers in our schools, in business, government, and across every sector of America.
Indian Americans and South Asians have made their mark, and that quest for the American dream continues.
This has been an amazing facet of our relationship.
That is why it is so hard to fathom perspectives that are anti-immigrant and yet pro-U.S.-India economic, security, and cultural ties.
The two do not go together.
And, in fact, nothing could be more threatening or damaging to U.S.-India ties than the recent demonization of immigrants we’ve seen careening through cyber space and our TV screens in recent days, which includes vile and racist attacks directed at Indian Americans.
Let me be as clear as I possibly can – this kind of language, these kinds of attacks, have no place in American society, and we have to reject them outright.
After all, when we speak of shared values in the U.S.-India relationship, our countries have a long history of pushing for social justice for our most vulnerable populations.
We must continue to learn from each other and advance these values.
Standing up for America as a diverse, multicultural, and inclusive society is something I will do at every opportunity.
So in conclusion, I know some will say I have painted too rosy a picture of our work together, the recent history, and the road ahead.
But I don’t think so.
I am clear-eyed about the challenges we face, and there are many.
I am concerned, for example, about increasing Russia-China collaboration, especially in the security sphere.
This partnership could aid Russia in its unlawful war against Ukraine.
Russia’s assistance also could give China new capabilities that pose a challenge to the security of the Indo-Pacific.
I am mindful of the need to deepen our economic cooperation, with clear rules of the road, and more government-to-government efforts to ensure transparency and fairness.
And I am mindful of the need to continue to support our collective civil societies to ensure every voice is heard and supported, with the freedom to speak out.
As I noted, it is our shared values and the commitment to inclusive, pluralistic, democracies that bind us together in special ways and give us the credibility to speak difficult truths to each other as close friends must.
So long as we are not complacent, and do not take the recent gains of the past quarter century for granted, then I do believe our years ahead can be even better, even stronger, and even more impactful. That’s what President Biden, Vice President Harris, Secretary Blinken, and so many others have been working towards. And I wholeheartedly believe this era of convergence will – and must – continue.
Thank you.
