India-US should become model for world in terms of co-development, says envoy Eric Garcetti

The United States Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, hailed the ties between New Delhi and Washington and stressed that the two nations should work more robustly on co-development and serve as a ‘model’ for the world.

He also said that ties between India and the US is not merely ‘additive relationship’ but instead a ‘multiplicative relationship’.

The US envoy was speaking at the US India Business Council event in the national capital on Tuesday.

Speaking at the event, Garcetti said, “Looking at the way, we are understanding each other’s culture, this is more than an additive relationship, this is not India plus the US, this is India times the US…a multiplicative relationship.”

Explaining the difference between co-production and co-development while emphasizing the importance of aligning needs and interests, the envoy said, “We should be clear with our terms. Co-production is not the same thing as co-development. We need to make sure, when we are looking at co-development, we are not doing for the sake of that. Something that India needs and its military, and something that America needs, and where do those circles intersect? And how quickly can we look at co-development…and become the model for the world?”

He further drew references to ancient Indian texts and said that so much of what is taught today was discovered in India centuries ago.

“Our goal is not to wage war. In the Rig Veda, there is Indra, the most powerful god, the god of thunder and, in many ways, the god of war too. We knew the power and you can feel the power of that kind of primal creation of the earth that came out of conflict,” Garcetti said.

The US envoy also elaborated upon the concept of ‘war’ as described in ‘Mahabharata’ and ‘Arthshastra’.

“There are two traditions in India. One that’s in the Mahabharata of war being something kind of exciting, grim, but a sport, an even religious duty. We know that well. And when we were not as hopefully civilized as we are today, every culture embraced the necessity of war as places were conquered, as people suffered, histories that were never written,” the Ambassador said.

He added, “But there is a second school of thought, the ‘Arthshastra’, which clearly states that ‘war is a continuation’ of politics by other means, over 200 years before, we studied in our colleges, like so much discovery in India, was actually written here first.”