India-US relationship will only grow stronger, don't see any major obstacles: Piyush Goyal
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said the India-US relationship is highly consequential and will only grow stronger irrespective of changes in political thinking in either country.
Speaking at the Bloomberg NewEconomy Forum here, Goyal said the relationship between India and the United States is already very strong, and I do not see any problems at present.
“In my view, the partnership between the two countries is highly substantive and consequential for the world, given that both are large democracies. It is important to remember that the relationship is not limited to trade. The United States is India's largest trading partner, and I believe it will continue to be so in the years to come. By and large, I do not see any major obstacles to reaching agreements with the United States,” said the minister.
He further stated that the partnership extends beyond trade to defence cooperation, technology, critical supply chains and people-to-people ties.
“The fact remains that India and the United States continue to enjoy a very close relationship and engage across multiple areas. These include joint defence exercises and cooperation to ensure open supply chains in technology, goods, and services. The India-US relationship is highly consequential and, I believe, will only grow stronger irrespective of changes in political thinking in either country,” Goyal said at the forum.
The minister said the relationship derives its strength from “our economic, political and security imperatives”.
“It is, therefore, a stable and resilient partnership, and I do not think the rest of the world needs to worry about it,” said Goyal.
Goyal said that over the past four to four-and-a-half years alone, we have entered into preferential trade agreements with 38 developed nations.
“Our objective is to open India's markets to the world while ensuring that other markets are equally accessible to Indian businesses. Until 2014, India had preferential market access covering economies with a combined GDP of approximately $10 trillion. Today, our trade agreements cover economies representing around $70 trillion in GDP,” said the minister.
