US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said India and the United States of America together can build a bulwark against the “might makes right” mentality. Working together, the world’s two largest democracies can bolster the security, stability, and prosperity of the entire world, Garcetti said while speaking at IIT, Delhi on June 28.
"Our countries already do so much together to ensure peace. Our troops conduct joint training and operations from the mountains of Alaska to the Red Sea. Our forces are friends, thanks to our strong tradition of exchanges at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. Our countries’ defense industries are increasingly connected. In fact, components made here in India already keep U.S. Apache helicopters and C-130 transport aircraft in the sky. And soon, we’ll see advanced jet engines made here in India as well," the ambassador said.
Garcetti stressed the need to build and work together. "When the US and India work together to co-produce military equipment, we create a state-of-the-art system at a sustainable cost and with resilient supply chains for India, the United States, and our partners," he said.
Our partnership is anchored in the common values we cherish – freedom; respect for sovereignty and for all humankind. In turn, our partnership can anchor the region and deliver benefits on a massive scale, Garcetti said while hoping to see the United States and India working together across the Pacific and into the Atlantic, from Central Asia to Southern Africa.
"We can stand together against those who would upend the common good for their own benefit. We can stand together for choice, resisting coercion. We can stand together as a force for stability to avert regional and global crises. We can deploy our ships together in the Pacific and Indian oceans, and even beyond, to ensure maritime security. We can employ our air forces across the Indo-Pacific region to ensure freedom of the skies and the seas, and to jointly respond to humanitarian crises from the Sahara to the Pacific Islands. We can coordinate our land-force exercises across regions to bolster the sovereign defense of all countries who want to work with us. These are opportunities fully within our control as Major Defense Partners," Garcetti said.
If peace is the predicate, then prosperity is the purpose of our work. What lifts up our people is not just our efforts to keep them free from war, but also to keep them free from want, as we work better together, to build prosperity for all, including the most vulnerable, Garcetti added.
The US ambassador also maintained that without urgent action, climate change could push another 100 million people into poverty by 2030.
"It’s difficult to overstate the urgency of the challenge presented by climate change. Climate change undermines our security and causes serious economic disruptions – costing the global economy more than $2.2 trillion dollars in the last two years alone. As a global community, we need to cut our emissions of harmful gases. For the long-term health of the planet, this is an essential step.
"We must strive for integration – linking economic growth and environmental sustainability; urban density and green space, and diversity and social harmony. Now is the time to harness technology to make our environmental agenda a reality. We must work better together to save our planet," Garcetti said.
