Washington: After achieving enormous progress in their overall relations, the US and India must now set bold goals to take their ties to a new level and achieve the ambitious target of USD 500 billion in bilateral trade, Atul Keshap, the new president of the influential US India Business Council (USIBC) has said.
I think it’s vitally important that we show that democracies can deliver; that the United States and India can be a driver of global growth, growth and a model for prosperity and development in the 21st century, Keshap told PTI in an interview.
Keshap, a veteran American diplomat, has served in various capacities during his illustrious career with the US State Department. These included the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.
Last year he served as the Charg d’affaires of the United States mission to India, during which he helped shape the India US relationship in the first year of the Biden Administration.
I feel it’s vitally critically important that we show that open societies powered by free enterprise can be relevant for their people and can help power the world out of this pandemic. I tend to agree entirely with President (Joe) Biden and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi that the US India Partnership is a force for global good and it’s going to have a huge impact on economic growth on reducing poverty on global security and dealing with all of the challenges of our time, he said.
So, upon deeper reflection, the 50-year-old former diplomat noted, he decided that USIBC is the place where he can put the most effort into helping people of the two countries. US Chamber’s president Suzanne Clark in her speech last week drove home the point that democracies need to be ambitious, and they need to think boldly. —PTI

Press Trust of India