US Ambassador Eric Garcetti on Wednesday said the US wants to build a “BFF (best friends forever) relationship” with India, and the change of leadership in the White House will not change the ties between the two countries.
Without naming China, Eric Garcetti said New Delhi must reduce its dependence on any one country if it wants to compete with “regional competitors”, adding that such dependence is not just an economic risk but also a security risk.
Speaking at a Milken Institute event here, Eric Garcetti said this at a time when five pension funds with USD 1.8 trillion in assets under management are scouting for investment opportunities in India. He called on Americans to invest more in the country for their own good.
Borrowing the acronym ‘Building Financial Futures’ from his tour of pension funds, Eric Garcetti made clear the US intentions on India-US relations.
“We want to build a BFF (best friends forever) relationship between the US and India,” he said.
Using a colloquialism popular on social media, Eric Garcetti said the nature of the relationship has changed so that, where it used to be described as complicated, it can now be described as “definitely dating.”
He also made it clear that there would be no harm to the relations in the near future.
He said, “America will have a new President, but one thing will not change, that is America’s loyalty and friendship towards India.”
However, soon after, some advice was also given for India.
“We believe that India needs to do a number of things to reach its full growth potential as the largest democracy on earth, and to compete with regional competitors, among others,” he said.
“If we are overly dependent on one country, we will all face not only security risks, but also economic risks,” the ambassador said.
Citing the example of India’s difficulty in procuring machinery for manufacturing photovoltaic cells used in solar projects, he said dependence on one country is harmful.
“Similarly, during the pandemic, we’ve seen people struggle to get masks and critical medical equipment,” Gov. Eric Garcetti said.
Garcetti said he met with Indian Navy officials earlier in the day and noted that there were many opportunities for cooperation.
He also welcomed India’s commitment to small modular reactors and described the nuclear sector as a good potential for cooperation.
Putin, a politician-turned-diplomat, welcomed India’s efforts to establish peace between Russia and Ukraine.
When asked about the controversial meeting of US officials with political parties in Srinagar, Garcetti said, “We are here to listen and learn” and added that the US has always stood with India in times of crisis, such as with China.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)