JOIN USUS-India holding 'frank talks' on 'social challenges'
Elizabeth Jones, the newly appointed US Charge d'Affaires to India, on Friday said India and the US have been holding "frank discussions" on "social challenges" for a "long time".
"In the US, the treatment of ethnic, racial and religious minorities attracts a lot of attention, just as it does here (India)," Jones, the senior-most American diplomat in India, said.
At a roundtable with journalists, in the context of communally charged speeches in the recent Assembly polls in India, Jones said, "We can learn from each other on how to promote tolerant behaviour among diverse communities because we have similar experiences and similar challenges in those social areas."
She said Washington sees its ties with New Delhi as one of our "most consequential relationships", and one of the benefits of this is that a great variety of easy as well as difficult issues could be discussed. "This is a conversation we have perpetually with our Indian colleagues," Jones said.
New Delhi does not have an American ambassador since the Biden administration's choice of envoy has failed to find legislative clearance.
She spoke on an array of issues, including India and US ties with China, climate change and trade. Jones said given the "gigantic" volume of bilateral trade, India and the US didn't need a trade pact. On the visa backlog, Jones said the US is undertaking "tremendous efforts", including recruitment and training of visa counsellors, to solve the problem of long wait time in the issuance of visas in India. She acknowledged that the situation in the country is particularly "bad" because of the high demand.
Jones also noted that tremendous recruiting and training efforts are under way right now in Washington to recruit and train vice counsellors for many many places. "Our mission in India is going to get quite a number of them... By the summer, we will be fully staffed here in Delhi and in our consulates to issue visas and do these interviews," she said.
The waiting period of first time B1/B2 visa applicants in India is close to three years.
She noted that the US issued 82,000 visas to Indian students this year.
On India's increased procurement of Russian crude, Jones said it is a sovereign decision by every country. She, however, noted that Washington sees it appropriate for countries to reduce oil revenues for Russia so that it cannot use the resources to increase its capacities to wage war on Ukraine. She echoed India's reaction in rejecting China's opposition to an India-US joint military exercise near the LAC in Uttarakhand and as "none of their business".
(With inputs from PTI)