US President Barack Obama’s top diplomatic nominee for South and Central Asia, Nisha Desai Biswal on Thursday told legislators that advancing the India-US strategic partnership will be of paramount importance for her if she is confirmed.
Asserting that India’s growing economic power makes it a vital anchor for the vision of regional engagement as well as a cornerstone of America’s strategic rebalance to Asia, Ms Biswal said, “If I am confirmed by the Senate, advancing India-US strategic partnership will be of paramount importance.”
Noting that India and US relationship has broadened and deepened in the last decade, Ms Biswal told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the two countries are already strong partners in combating terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
“India’s growing economic power makes it a vital anchor for the vision of regional engagement as well as a cornerstone of America’s strategic rebalance to Asia,” Ms Biswal said during her confirmation hearing for the post.
“If confirmed I will endeavour to strengthen and expand these efforts,” she said in her testimony.
Identifying defence as one of the major areas of co-operation between the two countries, Ms Biswal said the defence trade has increased from $300 million through 2008 to over $8 billion today. Noting that the India-US trade has quintupled over the past 10 years to almost $100 billion, she said it can and should be significantly higher and though there are challenges in the relationship, New Delhi and Washington can work together and should work collaboratively to meet the significant economic potential of this vital relationship.
Ms Biswal would replace Robert Blake who has been nominated as the US ambassador to Indonesia.