Blinken said there are many ways the two countries can deepen their cooperation

India and the United States have "very strong" potential to work together, said US Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken on Tuesday, noting the successful cooperation in the past with the earlier administrations.

''India has been a bipartisan success story of our successive administrations,'' Blinken told members of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing.

'During the Obama administration, we deepened cooperation on defense procurement and information sharing, and the Trump administration carried that forward including its concept of Indo-Pacific and to make sure we were working with India so that no country in the region including China could challenge its sovereignty and also working with it on concerns that we share about terrorism,'' he said.

Noting the possible areas of cooperation in the future, Blinken said there are many ways the two countries can deepen the cooperation between them, and one area that has a lot of promise and necessity is climate.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a very strong advocate of renewable energy and different technologies. I think there is very strong potential for our countries to work together," he said.

In November, US President-elect Joe Biden nominated Blinken, one of his closest and longest-serving foreign policy advisers, as Secretary of State to serve in his administration. Blinken, 58, has been advising Biden on foreign policy for years.

On August 15, Blinken participated in a panel discussion on Indo-US ties. Addressing Indian American Democrats on India's Independence Day at the US-India Relations and Indian Americans in Joe Biden's America virtual event, Blinken affirmed how Biden would be a champion of India-US relations.

He had said that Joe Biden sees India and the US as natural partners and that the vision, he will help to make real as the president.
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