Indispensable Partners - Reenergizing U.s.-india Ties

Bilateral trade in goods and services between our nations has reached nearly $100 billion. In 2013 India was the single largest country market for the Export-Import Bank, with authorizations of $2.1 billion. The Partnership to Advance Clean Energy has mobilized $2 billion in public and private resources for clean energy projects in India. Our defense trade, which has kind of been a recent arrival on the scene in terms of cooperation, has taken off and been very successful, nearly $10 billion, with billions more in the pipeline. Over 100,000 Indian students are currently studying in U. S. universities. According to the latest Pew Global Attitude Survey, over 55 percent of Indians hold a very positive view of the United States. When asked what country would most likely be India?s leading ally, the United States came in at number one. Now, any relationship between partners is bound to have some friction, and there has been friction in the last 6 years. But the strategic rationale behind the partnership is only growing more important every day. There is increasing instability around the globe in Syria and Iraq, Russia and Ukraine, China in the South China Sea. Both India and the United States notice that, care about it, want to be productive in helping solve it. So cultivating this partnership in 2014 with the new government in India is critically important.