The relationship between India and the United States is not only bipartisan, but also enduring, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said, adding that whoever comes to power next year will realize that this is the most important relationship. Rice, currently Director of the prestigious Hoover Institution, made the remarks during the India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem-INDUS-X Summit in Stanford this week organised by the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum-USISPF, in collaboration with Stanford University's Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation and the Hoover Institution.
"It is not a bipartisan relationship between the US and India, but enduring. Whoever will sit in the White House in January 2025, too, will realize that this is the most important relationship," she said.
"There is so much possibility for cooperation between the US and India in defence, interoperability and in technology partnerships. There is a whole lot of things we could do on the defence capability side," Rice said, who was Secretary of State from 2005 to 2009.
According to a media release, the conference, 'Emerging and Disruptive Technologies: Defence Partnership', was a two-day event from September 9-10, that brought together leading defence policymakers in Washington and New Delhi with a central focus on strengthening defence and advanced technology innovative partnerships. Sharing the dais with Rice, chairman of USISPF John Chambers echoed her optimism and belief in the relationship and said, "I've been the biggest bull on India for decades. You can see the opportunity of two countries who think alike and the creativity and innovation coming together."
"I think it will not only be the defining relationship for the next century, I think it will be one which defines the pace of innovation for the world, inclusive in that innovation and how the relationship could change the standard of living for every person in India and every person in the US," Chambers said.
As the Deputy Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell said, "Expanding America's partnership with India is one of the most strategically important efforts we have undertaken during the Biden-Harris administration. Referring to the successful state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2023, he said, "From the stars to the sea, no corner of human enterprise is untouched by the cutting-edge work we're doing together. Successive administrations, in Washington and New Delhi, have invested time and political capital to bring this partnership to greater and greater heights. But in the last year, I'd like to say, our partnership has reached escape velocity. Today our countries are more closely aligned than ever before."
Gen. Stephen N Whiting, the Commander, United States Space Command, spoke on deeper US-India collaboration in the space sector. "At US Space Command, we like to say that space is a team sport. Given the vastness of space and its criticality to societies, no one country, no one command, service, department, agency, or company can achieve what needs to be done in space by itself. That is why we employ a joint, combined, partnered approach to space operations," he said.
