Atlanta: The India-US trade agreement has been “at the finish line for a very long time”, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said in Atlanta on Saturday, expressing confidence that Washington and New Delhi would close the deal while pointing to the nearly two decades India took to conclude its pact with the European Union (EU).
“The trade agreement has been at the finish line for a very long time, and we hope we will be able to get it across the finish line,” Gor told reporters shortly before the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, being held on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
“The one thing I tell people: keep in perspective, the European Union trade deal with India took almost 20 years. We’ve been at this for a little over a year, so we got plenty of time,” he said. “We will get it.”
Gor said the Atlanta meeting of the foreign ministers of the US, India, Japan and Australia, the third at ministerial level this year, could pave the way for a summit of the four leaders.
“We had a first meeting in Delhi, as you know. We had a second meeting in Manila, and this is the third meeting here in Atlanta,” he said. “And the hopes is that this leads into the finalising and an announcement of a leader summit at some point between all four leaders.”
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is attending the Quad meeting hosted by the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“There’s so much that happens in the Quad. We have regular touchpoints weekly, almost, and so it’s very important that at the highest levels there’s also engagement,” Gor said.
Describing the bilateral relationship as “great”, Gor said: “Pick any sector, pick any item. The United States and India are working at it at a higher level than ever before,” citing pharmaceuticals, IT and military exercises.
“As you know, India has more military exercises with the United States than anyone else,” he said, referring to the deployment of 500 troops for the Yudh Abhyas exercise and the recent Tarang Shakti air exercise, which he said had featured F-35s for the first time.
Gor signalled more to come, saying “you’ll see something coming up very soon”, with “another very interesting military exercise in the next month”. He did not give details.
He noted that Rubio had visited India twice in six months. “We’re hoping he comes back again next year. There’s never a shortage of things to work on.”
The trip, Gor said, was “heavily focused on commercial diplomacy, on energy”, adding: “Leading up to the G20, we hope to have some very exciting deliverables, and we’re working very closely and rapidly on those behind the scenes.”
After the Quad talks, EAM Jaishankar is to join the closing session of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
–IANS–
