01 September 2016•Update: 01 September 2016
By Ahmad Adil
NEW DELHI, India
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to India, which concluded Wednesday, has helped boost the strategic cooperation between the two countries, Indian experts said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who met Kerry on Wednesday, said the countries in the past two years of his government have "opened up new vistas for collaborations".
Sylvia Mishra, a visiting fellow at the U.S.-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told Anadolu Agency that bilateral relations are "in robust health".
"While there are differences, both sides have learnt the art of talking candidly regarding issues and working a way around to resolve the bilateral differences,” she said.
She said the two countries have come a long way from being “estranged democracies to engaged democracies and this momentum is only going to grow... Geopolitics and shared democratic values drives the rationale for India-U.S. to cooperate closely on these multitude issues”.
Mumbai-based security expert Sameer Patil highlighted that at the New Delhi meeting the two parties sought to advise Pakistan on terror issues while an earlier meeting in Washington was focused on China's military stance in the region.
Commentators have said the latest round of talks is also significant because it might be the last official interaction between the Obama administration and Modi's government.
Dr. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, a senior fellow at the Institute of Security Studies in New Delhi, said however that the visit was "more symbolic than substantial."
“At the very end of the Obama administration, two months prior to the presidential elections, it is not fair to expect anything substantial to come out of the meeting. Nevertheless, the fact that the meeting was not cancelled because it was almost the end of the term shows a certain amount of commitment and determination on the part of both countries,” said Pillai.
“Irrespective of the election of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, India and the U.S. will continue to work together closely for economic prosperity and a shared stable future in the Indo-Pacific,” she said.
