From ’It’s complicated’ to ’Dating’: US ambassador Eric Garcetti on India-America ties

US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti on Wednesday emphasised the strong ties between India and America. Speaking at Carnegie’s Global Tech Summit 2023, Garcetti said that ties between the two countries are growing increasingly broader and deeper, HT reported.

Speaking in modern times dating language, the US envoy said India and America are dating each other now.

“It’s like our Facebook status for a long time, between the US and India, was ‘It’s complicated’. Now, when you log on, it’s like, “They’re dating’,” he said.

World should respect India’s borders, says US envoy Arunachal Pradesh

Garcetti added, “And then we’re trying to figure out, maybe we’ve even moved in together and we’re like well your habits are a little different than mine... And we’re also trying to figure out, where does this go?”

The US ambassador affirmed that there's a positive romantic ambiguity about where this will ultimately lead "But there’s a strong desire on both [sides to take the relationship forward]".

Despite visa hurdles, Indian students in US surged a record 35% in 2022-23

He said the India-US relationship is not additive, it's multiplicative.

"We demonstrated that at G20, where it was more than just 1+1 equals 2 countries, 1+1 actually produced 20 countries together with a historic and strongest, deepest statement ever put forward by a G20,” Garcetti said.

Eric Garcetti joins Delhi consular team in processing visas amid high demand

On China being an important factor behind India-US ties, Garcetti denied that the relationship was based on this factor. He said, "Our relationship is 95% fundamentally about other things. China is about deterrence".

Further, the US envoy spoke about Foreign Direct Investment. He said there are challenges pertaining to the “highest taxed input".

Watch | US envoy visits Durga Puja pandal in Delhi, relishes jhaal muri, biryani

“It’s not a criticism…but it’s harming your own internal capacity to be the manufacturing powerhouse that India should be. That we want it to be. That it is starting to accelerate to become but it will require some fundamentally deeper changes,” he said.

Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who also participated in the discussions, said, “The relationship is amazingly multifaceted, but it’s also constantly evolving".