India and the United States released a vision statement to strengthen their strategic ties on September 29, 2014

India and the United States released a vision statement to strengthen their strategic ties on September 29, 2014. The vision statement titled Chalein Saath-Saath: Forward Together We Go was released after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with US President Barack Obama during the White House dinner in Washington DC.

The joint declaration aimed to broaden and deepen the strategic partnership between the world’s largest and oldest democracies for the benefit not only of the two nations but also of the world.

Main highlights of the vision statement

• The two countries would cooperate on security and fight terrorism
• He called for an inclusive rules-based world order in which India will assume greater multilateral responsibility, including a reformed United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
• The two countries are also determined to work together to tackle the threat of climate change.
• The two countries also pledged to cooperate to deal with the consequences of uncontrolled pollution through cooperation between governments, scientists and academic communities of the two countries.
• The two countries will team up to ensure they have affordable, clean, reliable and diverse sources of energy, including working to bring American-made nuclear power technologies to India.
• Two countries would also work to ensure that economic growth brings better livelihoods to all.
• The vision statement also underscored the importance of open markets and fair and transparent practices to allow trade to thrive.
• The joint statement also called for jointly combating infectious diseases, eliminating maternal and child deaths, and working to eradicate poverty for all and ensure the greater empowerment of women in a safe environment.
• Both the nation emphasizing the mission of their founding fathers placed emphasis on equal opportunity for our people through democracy and freedom.
• The declaration also pledged to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to reduce the importance of nuclear weapons in order to promote universal, verifiable and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament.

Analysis and commentary

The United States wants to expand its trade and security ties with India in order to counterbalance an increasingly assertive China in Asia. However, so far relations between the two nations have fallen short of the joint statement released in 2010. The joint statement called for making Indo-American partnerships one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century.

It has to be seen whether the hype generated by Narendra Modi’s first visit to the United States as Prime Minister really becomes the definitive relationship between the two nations or not.