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Kamala Harris Hails India's COVID Fight, PM Modi Calls Her an Inspiration

Eshwar Ranjana
·10 min read

In the first meet since she was elected as the Vice President of the United States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, 22 September held bilateral talks with Kamala Harris in Washington DC.

Ahead of the talks, both Modi and Harris issued a joint statement and praised the support provided by the two countries to each other during the COVID-19 pandemic. Harris also hailed India's vaccination drive and welcomed the announcement of India resuming vaccine exports.

Calling Harris' election an inspiration, PM Modi said that he expects the bilateral ties between the two countries to improve under her and President Joe Biden's leadership.

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The bilateral talks, that were held at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House, were also attended by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Also Read: Modi in US: Indian-Americans Want PM to Focus on Investment, Visas, China-Pak

Kamala Harris Hails India's COVID Fight, Vaccination Drive

Harris, in a joint statement issued with PM Modi ahead of the bilateral talks, called India an important partner of the United States and praised India's COVID-19 fight and climate change efforts.

"I know that India takes the issue of climate crisis seriously. We believe that the US and India working together can have a profound impact not only on the people of our nations but the world," Harris said.

"On COVID-19, our nations have worked together. Early in the pandemic, India was a vital source of vaccines for other countries," she added.

Harris said that when India experienced the surge in the cases of COVID-19, the United States was proud to support India in its need and its responsibility to vaccinate its people.

"I welcome India's announcement that it will soon be able to resume vaccine exports. It is particular note and admiration that India is currently vaccinating approximately 10 million people a day as of today," Harris said.

'Inspiration': PM Modi Hails Kamala Harris, Invites Her to India

Praising Harris, PM Modi said: "Your election as Vice President of USA has been an important and historic event. You are a source of inspiration for many across the world. I am confident that under President Biden and your leadership, our bilateral relations will touch new heights."

PM Modi also invited Harris to visit India.

PM Modi expressed gratitude for the help provided by the US during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

"India and America are natural partners; we have similar values, geopolitical interests, and our coordination and cooperation is also increasing," he said.

PM Modi said that the vibrant and strong people-to-people connections between India and the US are a bridge between the two countries.

Also Read: What to Expect from QUAD as PM Narendra Modi Visits the US

Bilateral Meet with Australian PM Scott Morrison

PM Modi also held bilateral talks with his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison to discuss "deepening economic and people-to-people linkages between India and Australia," the PMO said.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) called the meet between PM modi and Scott Morrison "another chapter in our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Australia."

"Discussed regional & global developments as well as ongoing bilateral cooperation in areas related to Covid-19, trade, defence, clean energy & more (sic)," the MEA tweeted.

Earlier, PM Modi met several dignitaries including Qualcomm CEO Cristiano R Amon, Adobe Chairman Shantanu Narayen, and First Solar CEO Mark Widmar, among others.

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon

In his meeting with Qualcomm CEO and President Cristiano Amon, Prime Minister Modi discussed leveraging technology for public and tech opportunities in India.

Calling the meeting fruitful, PM Modi said that Amon was interested in India's stride in 5G.

"We spoke on semiconductors which is an important topic of conversation. We spoke on opportunity to continue to build an incredible mobile ecosystem developing in India. We're happy with everything we're doing together with India," Amon said.

"I think the approach to driving economic growth in making India a destination for investment has been very successful and we welcome that," he added.

Also Read: Battle of Smartphone Chipmakers: Why Do Users Prefer MediaTek Over Qualcomm?

Also Read: Hard to Copy: Cong Shares Manmohan Singh's Presser Pics Post Modi's Flight Tweet

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen

In his meet with Adobe CM Shantanu Narayen, PM Modi discussed ideas relating to ed-tech and boosting innovations.

"Mr Shantanu Narayen of Adobe is a great friend of India’s. I sat down with him to discuss interesting ideas relating to ed-tech, supporting Indian start-ups and boosting innovation. Shantanu expressed keenness to take the joys of video and animation to every child in India," PM Modi tweeted.

"PM Modi and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen also held discussions over leveraging technology to provide smart education to youngsters, enhance research and the vibrant start-up sector in India, powered by the Indian youth," the PMO said in a tweet.

Narayen said that it was a pleasure to hear about Modi's vision to expand India.

"Among the key topics we talked about was continued investment in innovation, he said he believes that technology is the way to help move things forward," Narayen was quoted as saying after his meeting with PM Modi.

Also Read: Apple and Adobe Offer Free Editing Tools – Here’s How They Work

Mark R Widmar, First Solar

After his meet with Prime Minister Modi, First Solar CEO Mark R Widmar stated that the company will establish manufacturing in India under Modi's leadership.

""Clearly with his leadership and what he's done to create a really strong balance between industrial policy as well as trade policy, it makes it an ideal opportunity for companies like First Solar to establish manufacturing in India."" - Mark R Widmar, First Solar CEO

PM Modi tweeted that his discussion with Widmar was about green hydrogen mission and why India was the right destination to invest in Solar energy.

Also Read: The Solar Solution: How Solar Energy Resolved a Remote Village's Water Woes

Vivek Lall, General Atomics

PM Modi met Vivek Lall, Chief Executive Officer of General Atomics Global Corporation and discussed advancing defence manufacturing, use of emerging technologies & augmenting capacity building in India.

PM Modi tweeted that his meeting with Lall was about how India is ushering a paradigm shift in drone policy.

Lall said that they discussed a lot of potential areas for collaboration with India as it is a very promising destination.

""It was an outstanding meeting. We spoke about technology and the confidence in the policy reforms that are coming in India and the great potential that India has from an investment perspective."" - Vivek Lall, General Atomics CEO

Lall also praised India's new drone policy and said that the reforms that PM Modi had taken will increase the interest of investment in India.

Also Read: Hard to Copy: Cong Shares Manmohan Singh's Presser Pics Post Modi's Flight Tweet

Blackstone Group's CEO Stephen Schwarzman

PM Modi also held a meeting with American alternative investment management firm Blackstone Group's CEO Stephen Schwarzman.

The PMO said that various investment opportunities including those arising due to the National Infrastructure Pipeline and National Monetisation Pipeline were discussed with Schwarzman.

"It was a delight to meet Mr Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of Blackstone. His commercial success and intellectual prowess are admirable. We talked about India’s investment potential and why our country is one of the world’s most attractive destination for investment," PM Modi tweeted.

Schwarzman said that his company will be investing 40 Billion Dollar Assets in India over the next five years.

""I had a very good meeting with the PM. I told him that Blackstone had already invested 60 billion US dollars in assets in India, and over the next 5 years, we're planning another 40 billion US dollars of assets."" - Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone Group

Also Read: India-UK Travel Row: From PM Modi to Shashi Tharoor, Who Said What

. Read more on India by The Quint.'India, US Share Values, Interests': Modi, Kamala Harris Issue Joint StatementKamala Harris Hails India's COVID Fight, PM Modi Calls Her an Inspiration . Read more on India by The Quint.