Sun Jan 19 09:38:38 UTC 2025: ## US-India Relations Reach “New Heights,” Says Ambassador Garcetti

**New Delhi, India** – Outgoing US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, declared the US-India partnership has reached unprecedented levels of cooperation, crediting the efforts of President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a farewell meeting with PM Modi and subsequent social media post, Ambassador Garcetti highlighted record-breaking achievements across numerous sectors.

These achievements, according to the Ambassador, include record numbers of visas issued, a surge in bilateral trade, significantly expanded defense collaboration, unprecedented space cooperation initiatives, a dramatic increase in student exchanges, and substantial growth in investments.

“It’s clear that [PM Modi] and President Biden have raised our compelling and consequential US-India partnership to new heights,” Garcetti stated on X (formerly Twitter). He expressed deep gratitude to PM Modi and the Indian people for their hospitality during his tenure.

Garcetti’s assessment underscores a strengthening relationship between the two nations. He emphasized the burgeoning partnership’s importance, predicting it will only grow stronger in the coming years. He even framed the current cooperation as “indispensable,” a marked shift from what he described as an “unthinkable” level of partnership a generation ago.

This positive assessment was further reinforced during the inauguration of a new US Consulate in Bengaluru on Friday. Garcetti emphasized that this wasn’t a new beginning for US presence in India, but rather an expansion of existing efforts, highlighting the long and rich history of US-India relations dating back to 1776 when the US opened its second consulate in Kolkata. He noted the Bengaluru consulate reflects the current scale of the relationship, calling the US mission in India the second-largest globally, issuing the second-most visas and supporting the highest number of student exchanges worldwide. He cited “record military exercises” and “record engagement from the seabed to space” as further evidence of the burgeoning partnership.

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