India and the US have strengthened their commitment to work towards “ensuring a free, open, inclusive, peaceful, and prosperous Indo-Pacific”. They also agreed on the need to deepen cooperation at the United Nations, especially on the matter of India’s membership of the United Nations Security Council.
Foreign Minister Harsh Vardhan Shringla and the US under Secretary of the State of Political Affairs David Hale discussed yesterday on the various regional and global issues of common interest during the virtual foreign office consultations between the two countries. They reviewed the entire range of engagements under the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, including political, economic, commercial, regional, and international cooperation.
They agreed to further strengthen the bilateral health partnership, including on pharmaceuticals and vaccine development considering the COVID-19 pandemic. Both have agreed to be in contact and move forward on the bilateral agenda through a range of mechanisms like the 22 ministerial that India will host later this year.
Mr. Shringla and Mr. Hales also discussed about the ways to further enhance mutually beneficial trade and people-to-people ties, including through visa facilitation for students and professionals. This comes in the light of President Donald Trump announcing to roll back student visas of F1 and M1 categories. This issue of students with F-1 visas attending only online classes was also discussed. The US side took a note said they will keep the best interests of students in mind and mitigate the impact. The detailed implementation guidelines are yet to be finalized.