The relationship between the largest democracies — India and the US — affects the world and is not merely limited to mutual gains, India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has said. He said this relationship serves as an example to many countries seeking solutions to global problems.
Mr Jaishankar was speaking in Washington DC on Wednesday, after concluding an 11-day official trip to the US which included an address to the UN General Assembly.
“If you look at the India-US relationship, it’s not a narrow relationship only devoted to each other’s gains,” Mr Jaishankar said.
"Our relationship today impacts the rest of the world. There are a lot of countries which look to us individually and bilaterally for some part of the betterment, which they hope for solutions which the world is searching for in many respects."
He said that the bilateral conversations between the two countries were framed under the pretext of larger global challenges. He added that there was a “very high degree of convergence” as the priorities of India and the US, at times, have been different.
"It’s natural our positions will not be identical; our priorities may sometimes be a little bit different.
“But again, the good part of the relationship is today, that we understand that we have to make space for each other and that we can work with each other, even if we do not entirely agree on every aspect of every issue."
His comments came two days after he lashed out at the US for its decision to provide $450 million F-16 fighter jet security assistance to Islamabad to “fight terrorism”.
Mr Jaishankar had questioned the merits of the US-Pakistan partnership, days after the US State Department approved the military sale to New Delhi’s arch-rival Pakistan. This reversed a 2018 ban.
He also talked to US congressmen and also met the Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with whom he raised the issue of the backlog of US visas for Indians post the pandemic.
Indian applicants for US non-immigrant visas are subjected to a waiting period of more than two years.
In Delhi, student and exchange visitors are facing a waiting period of 444 calendar days. Meanwhile, there are 758 calendar days for visitor visas and 354 calendar days for all other non-immigrant visas.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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What is the Supreme Petroleum Council?
The Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council was established in 1988 and is the highest governing body in Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry. The council formulates, oversees and executes the emirate’s petroleum-related policies. It also approves the allocation of capital spending across state-owned Adnoc’s upstream, downstream and midstream operations and functions as the company’s board of directors. The SPC’s mandate is also required for auctioning oil and gas concessions in Abu Dhabi and for awarding blocks to international oil companies. The council is chaired by Sheikh Khalifa, the President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi while Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is the vice chairman.
