Joe Biden administration committed to strong bilateral relationship with India: Pentagon

The US Department of Defence on Thursday said that the newly-elected Joe Biden administration will stay committed to a strong bilateral relationship with India, a day after US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in a maiden phone call.

“The Secretary made it very clear that we’re going to remain committed to a strong US-India bilateral relationship,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said at a press conference.

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“(They) had a good chat yesterday. They discussed a lot of issues, including our two nations’ response to the coronavirus,” Kirby said about the conversation between Austin and Singh.

Austin is a retired general, who became the first African-American to lead the defence department after getting confirmed by the Senate on January 22.

On Wednesday, Austin pledged to work collaboratively with India to sustain the progress in the bilateral defence relationship, Pentagon confirmed. 

“Secretary Austin noted the great strides made in the US-India defence relationship, and he pledged to work collaboratively with the Defence Minister to sustain progress,” Kirby said on Wednesday.

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The two nations have signed key defence and security agreements over the past few years, including the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016 that allows their militaries use each other’s bases for repair and replenishment of supplies as well as provides for deeper cooperation.

The countries also signed COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement) in 2018 two ease sale of high-end technology from the US military to the Indian Army.