Speeches and Remarks 2006

As prepared for delivery

Remarks by
Geoffrey Pyatt
Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy, India
At the Malabar 2006 Exercises
Aboard the U.S.S. Boxer
Sunday, October 29, 2006

Admiral Singh, Commodore Angood, Captain Nichols, Colonel Beaudrault, Your Excellency High Commissioner Malone, Dr. Jaishankar, and our colleagues from the media.

Good morning.  I am delighted to join today's visit to the U.S.S. Boxer.  Ambassador Mulford sends his regards.  He was unable to fly down due to his schedule but salutes all of you for what you have been doing here over the past week.

I would also like to thank our naval colleagues for inviting us here to the U.S.S. Boxer today. 

The Indian, Canadian and United States Navies, the U.S. Coast Guard and Marines, the Indian Army and Coast Guard have all earned stellar reputations around the world.  I look forward to seeing first-hand how they operate, and especially how they interact with each other in this first India-Canada-U.S. joint exercise, here in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Goa.    

I salute the thousands of people in all three of our countries whose planning, creativity, expert training, and communication made this complex exercise possible. 
Why are we here today?

The most basic reason is that India, Canada and the United States share fundamental values.  Our militaries protect our ways of life, our democratic freedoms, our rule of law, and our respect for the dignity of each individual.   

The second reason is that, in an interconnected world, no one country's military can accomplish its job alone.  We need each other to protect our citizens, now more than ever.  And that is what joint exercises are about. 

The United States and Canada share a longstanding relationship as NATO allies, NAFTA partners and peaceful neighbors.  We are also fighting together in India's neighborhood to defeat the Taliban and help cement Afghan democracy.  The United States and India are building a partnership of similar breadth and importance.
 
Military cooperation remains one of the most important, visible, and proactive forces powering the transformation of U.S.-India relations.  Our cooperation is strengthened because of the Indian and U.S. military establishments' mutual desire to deepen our relationship. 

This week's joint exercises are just one part of a defense relationship that supports our common strategic and security interests.  Besides maritime security, our countries work together to fight terrorism, respond to natural disasters, and combat nuclear proliferation.  Our two navies are playing a leading role in building our strategic partnership.  The interoperability demonstrated in our joint response to the tsunami is a striking example of this importance.  

As part of America's recognition that building good will involves people-to-people connections as well as shared military connections, I want to congratulate the American men and women in the Malabar Exercise who volunteered to join the Habitat for Humanity Jimmy Carter Work Project to build houses for poor families in the Mumbai area.
 
I commend them and their Indian and Canadian colleagues for what they do:  improving interoperability, sharing best practices and technical expertise, and perhaps most, providing leadership in reaffirming the friendship and mutual interests among our countries.  

Thank you.