President Joe Biden respects successful ties between India, US: White House

President Joe Biden respects successful ties between India, US: White House

A day after Joe Biden assumed office as the 46th President of the United States, the White House has said that he respects the long bipartisan, successful relationship between US and India, adding that he looks forward to the continuation of that.

"President Biden, of course, has visited India many times, respects and values the long bipartisan successful relationship between leader in India and the United States. It looks forward to a continuation of that," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference. She was responding to a question on India-US relationship under the Biden Administration.

She also said that the relationship between India and the United States has been further cemented with Kamala Harris becoming the Vice-President of the United States.

"The first Indian American to serve as president or Vice President is certainly a historic moment for all of us in this country but a further. You know cementing of the importance of our relationship," she added.

Biden had asked Harris to become his running mate in August last year and the two have been sworn in on Wednesday (local time).

Apart from Harris, the newly-sworn-in President has selected many Indian Americans in his cabinet one of them including Vivek Murthy as Surgeon General of the United States.

On the other hand, Joe Biden's nominee for defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has also said that he would continue to build on the "strong defence cooperation" with India and ensure that the militaries of the two countries can collaborate on shared interests.

In written answers to questions from the Senate Armed Forces Committee, he said that he would "further operationalise India's 'major defence partner' status and continue to build upon existing strong defense cooperation to ensure the US and Indian militaries can collaborate to address shared interests".

India received the status of major defence partner in 2016 when Biden was the vice president and Barack Obama was the president.