Vice President will visit Delhi, Mumbai.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: United States Vice President Joe Biden will be visiting India next week. The visit, highly unusual since US Vice Presidents rarely make trips to the subcontinent – the last VP to do so was George H.W. Bush in 1984 – will begin in Delhi, where Biden will be for two days before flying off to Mumbai on Wednesday. He will depart India on Thursday for Singapore.
The itinerary for Biden’s visit to India has not yet been made public, although it is known that he will be attending events in Mumbai dedicated to business and educational relations between India and the US.
Recent years have seen a blossoming of the relationship between the US and India, the oldest and largest democracies in the world, respectively. In 2009, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began annual visits to India in an effort to strengthen ties between the two nations, something that was continued even this year when current Secretary of State John Kerry visited India. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle visited the country in 2010, as well. India is seen as a critical partner for the US in Asia, where China sometimes butts heads with US foreign policy
On Thursday, the Vice President gave a speech at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, ahead of his trip to India.
Biden spoke about India’s place in Asia, as an emerging economy and a dominant player on the world stage. He also addressed the creation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was proposed two years ago. The TPP, which would include eleven countries such as Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, with the United State, Vietnam and Japan expected to join soon. Countries in the TPP currently constitute roughly 40% of world trade, making the alliance one of the world’s most powerful.
“We’re working hard to get this done this year,” Biden said.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com