‘US committed to advancing bilateral ties with India’.
By Sirmukh Singh Manku
WASHINGTON, DC: President Barack Obama endorsed India for membership on the United Nation’s Security Council, as it was among important reforms needed for the operation of the Council, according to the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
“The President endorsed them acceding to the Security Council in the context of a variety of other important reforms to the operations of the United Nations,” said Earnest, in response to a question during an interaction with the media, here.
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Obama had endorsed India for membership to the Security Council – a long-standing demand by India – during his first trip to India.
Earnest also said that the United States and India have an opportunity to try to advance the interests of both “countries by working together and by coordinating our efforts.”
He said President Obama is committed to advancing the bilateral business ties “in part, because the substantial economic benefits that could be enjoyed by the American people.”
He added, “And that ultimately is his goal I know that Prime Minister Modi has a similar interest. And I don’t know of any recent conversations that they have had, but that continues to be a priority of both the President and his administration.”
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The spokesman recalled that Obama had an opportunity to sit down at a roundtable with a couple dozen industry leaders and talk about some of “the challenges that they face as they try to do more business together in a way that benefits the economies and job creation in both countries.”
Responding to another question on jobs creation in India and the United States, Earnest said Obama believes that, “as Indian consumers have the opportunity to buy American goods, that it could be good for the Indian economy, as well.”
On the question of immigration, Earnest said the administration is concerned about a recent ruling blocking Obama’s executive action. He said, “The President does believe and we have said on many occasions that we believe that there is a very clear precedent for the executive actions the President announced at the end of last year; that taking executive action to try to address some elements of our broken immigration system is consistent with the way that Presidents of both parties for several decades have used their executive authority.”
The White House, the press secretary added, is “going to continue to move this through the legal process because we’re confident that the strongest legal arguments around on our side.”