New Delhi, July 17 (IANS) Veteran diplomat and India’s former Ambassador to the United States, Taranjit Singh Sandhu has joined the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) as Advisor to the Board and will be the Chairman of the USISPF Geopolitical Institute.
In his new role, Ambassador Sandhu will lend his diplomatic acumen to guide USISPF’s strategic engagements on the India-Middle-East-Europe-Economic Corridor (IMEC), the Indo-Pacific Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) and the I2U2 (India, Israel, USA, and UAE) initiatives.
During his stint in Washington, the seasoned diplomat had played a key role in strengthening the India-US relations and also worked closely with the USISPF before calling time on his 35-year diplomatic career in February 2024.
“I am delighted to join the US India Strategic Partnership Forum as Chairman of its Geopolitical Institute. I have had the opportunity to work on as well as follow the India-US story for over three decades. The relationship has evolved into a Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, underpinned by shared values and interests, matured in character and nurtured by the vibrant people-to-people ties between the two countries,” said Sandhu while highlighting that Prime Minister Modi and President Trump have imparted renewed vigour through the India-US COMPACT that focuses on key sectors including defence, technology, energy and trade.
He highlighted that USISPF has played a significant role in forging closer ties between the governments, industry, innovators and academia of India and the United States.
With the Indo-Pacific a priority, Ambassador Sandhu is expected to lend to USISPF’s work in the Quad, as four democracies – India, United States, Japan and Australia – strengthen defence ties, vaccine diplomacy in healthcare, energy partnerships, and critical and emerging technology.
The key focus would also be on strengthening infrastructure, supply chains and economic corridors through the IMEC and the I2U2, which came into existence during Ambassador Sandhu’s time in Washington.
India and the United States have engaged in deep collaboration in the fields of energy, critical and emerging technology, education, space and defence since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power 11 years ago.
“The most important strategic partnership of the 21st century, one between Washington and New Delhi, requires the art of deft diplomacy and sagacious statecraft. New Delhi has always sent its brightest minds to Washington, but few have come more experienced in understanding the contours of US-India relations than Ambassador Sandhu, who in his first stint in Washington, as the First Secretary (Political) as he formed crucial relations on Capitol Hill, with both Democrat and Republican lawmakers, during a time of sanctions from the Clinton Administration,” said Mukesh Aghi, President and CEO of USISPF, a non-profit, non-governmental, and non-partisan organisation with offices in Washington and New Delhi.
–IANS
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