India captured my heart, says US envoy Garcetti

Mumbai: US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti on Thursday described his tenure in the country as the "most extraordinary", and said India captured his heart.

During his interaction with select media representatives on the sidelines of a programme here, he said the relationship between India and the US holds "endless possibilities".

Garcetti, whose term as the US ambassador to India is ending soon, said his stint in the country was the most extraordinary job of his life.

"This was to be in the right place at the right time with the right relationship," he said.

"President Joe Biden had said India was the most important country in the world to him and if you want to work on the future, you need to come to India. No US president has ever said this," he said.

"India US relationship is the defining relationship. All of us know that building peace is to deter war, to make sure it doesn't occur. Borders should be sacred and sacrosanct. Rules are the only way to keep peace," he said.

Hailing the relationship between the two countries, he said, "We are resilient and desirous of being closer. I welcome India's role in the world - be it for peace in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, patrolling the Indian Ocean. We love to see India's growth. It's a strong, proud India the modern world has never seen." On the current political situation in Canada, he said it was tough to be an incumbent.

"These are challenging times for leaders - be it in Canada, US, East Asia. People want change and solutions overnight...India and the US are models of stability. Even if leaders change, values don't," he added.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation Monday in the face of rising discontent over his leadership and after the abrupt departure of his finance minister signalled growing turmoil within his government.

Responding to a query on Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who has been charged by US prosecutors for allegedly being part of a scheme to pay over USD 250 million (about Rs 2,100 crore) bribe to Indian officials in exchange of favourable terms for solar power contracts, he said, ''I have no comment on it. We have an independent criminal justice system." "We have had amazing partners with great industrialists and big companies here. We have been directly funding new factories, ports," he said.

Adani has been charged with bribery and securities fraud in two separate cases brought by US authorities -- a criminal indictment by the US Department of Justice in a New York court that charges him and seven others with paying bribes to unidentified officials of state governments like those in Andhra Pradesh to buy expensive solar power, potentially earn more than USD 2 billion profit over 20 years.

When asked about the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), Garcetti said the work has not slowed down.

"We need companies that are not controlled by state actors. Even our Gulf partners say this," the US envoy said.

Talking about the Indo-US trade ties, the ambassador said trade should be done fairly.

"We have a trade deficit with India. Tariffs are high. I share President-elect Donald Trump's view that tariffs are high. We need to reduce tariffs so that we can manufacture semiconductors, telecommunication equipment and defence equipment together," he said.

On whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be invited for President Trump's swearing-in scheduled later this month, Garcetti said Modi and Trump were very close.

"I look forward to when they meet in Washington together directly and later in India when the QUAD is hosted here. It is not about invitations to a crowded swearing-in, but one-on-one conversations that we will have and define the next chapter in our relations," he said.