Speeches and Remarks

Remarks by Ambassador David C. Mulford at the launch of the publication "People, Progress and Partnership: The Transformation of U.S.-India Relations"

New Delhi,
August 26, 2004

As prepared for delivery

Good evening your Excellency, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen.
This is an exciting time for our countries. I think you will agree when I say that relations between India and the United States have never been better. There has been a remarkable transformation of our relationship - remarkable in magnitude, diversity and the speed with which it has emerged.

In the 1980's, when I served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, my memory of U.S.-India economic relations is of two countries always seemingly on opposite sides of almost every major issue. Today, we are engaged in countless ways on the same side of issues. We have a genuine partnership, with closer cooperation, stronger ties, and a clearer recognition of our shared values than ever before.

The U.S. Mission in India has taken stock of this remarkable transformation and highlighted its accomplishments in the publication we are launching this evening. "People, Progress, Partnership: The Transformation of U.S.-India Relations," illustrates what President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell refer to as a "fundamental transformation" in relations between the United States and India.

The book has twelve chapters, each dedicated to one particular area of the transformation, such as Education or Economic Relations. Essentially, the book is a survey to inform readers of the broad elements of the deepening partnership that has emerged. It is also a reference book, filled with facts and figures that help to give definition to our mutual progress.

32,000 of these books, in both English and Hindi, will be sent all over India to political, economic, military, academic and cultural leaders, such as yourselves. Copies will go to libraries and research institutions, NGOs and the media. Our aim is make this book available to the thinkers and leaders of India who are part of the transformation the book describes. Its contents will also be available more widely on the Internet, accessible we hope by the general public both here and around the world.

I think of this book in many ways: as a resource for a promising university student writing a paper on U.S.-Indian relations. Or it can be a guide for news editors seeking ideas for stories or confirmation of factual data about the interesting dynamics of how our countries are in flux. Or an officer in the armed forces interested in the growth of our military-to-military contact, such as in our recent exercises in the skies over Alaska, where recently both our forces scored some impressive successes.

This book, however, is not simply a record of events and a summary of accomplishments. It is also a tool for future progress. It captures the dynamism of the change that is taking place. Think back. Who would have predicted in 1998 that we would be where we are today in terms of a strategic partnership - both countries working hard to realize the Next Steps Strategic Partnership Initiative. This initiative, as you know, will introduce greater cooperation on civil nuclear issues, the peaceful use of space technology, high technology commerce and, ultimately, missile defense - areas regarded as "off limits" not long ago.

I am particularly pleased that this book puts a strong emphasis on people-to-people ties. Indians and Americans are working together in a host of ways. They band together as never before in the struggle against polio, AIDS and environmental dangers. NGOs, fueled by the passion of their members, take on poverty and injustice. And of course, there is the striking increase in direct contact between us in the form of students studying today at U.S. universities.

Clearly there is more to come. The strategic relationship will become a comprehensive relationship, touching virtually every field of activity and a multitude of organizations and institutions.

If India's new government implements the economic reforms at all levels that it contemplates, then the next chapter in our relationship will exceed all others put together. Expanding trade and direct investment - running in both directions, and engaging a broader range of our respective populations - will bring almost unlimited possibilities and benefits for both of us. Clearly, we are limited now only by what we decide we don't want to do together.

Throughout this book you will notice that it emphasizes people-to-people ties. In free and democratic societies such as ours, this is as it should be. Because this, after all, is where the initiative, the energy and the creativity will come from to push our relationship forward into the future.