US investing $3.8 bn to meet India’s renewable energy, infra goals: Envoy

US Ambassador Eric Garcetti has said that the United States International Development Finance Corporation is investing $3.8 billion to meet India’s renewable energy and infrastructure goals.

While addressing the event on ‘Indo-US Space Co-operation’ in Mumbai last night, the US envoy added that along with the renewable energy and infrastructure goals, the US is also supporting agricultural, healthcare and financial services.

He also expressed delight to share that the US-India Alliance for Women’s Economic Empowerment is growing with new partners.

“I am delighted to share tonight that the United States-India Alliance for Women’s Economic Empowerment, which is a public-private partnership between our two great nations to advance women’s economic security in India, is growing with new partners,” he said.

“The United States International Development Finance Corporation is investing $3.8 billion to meet India’s renewable energy and infrastructure goals while supporting agricultural, healthcare and financial services,” Garcetti said.

Moreover, he added that the two nations are not just moving forward on development, but are moving forward on technology. “You know, technology will define our lives,” he said.

“Reaching our full economic potential means harnessing the very best in our own nations and connecting this alliance together of the US and India to see what we can do for the world,” he added.

He highlighted that the US and India are working together on critical minerals, semiconductors, defence and space.

“As we celebrate tonight, jet engines and unmanned vehicles and all of this groundbreaking work on earth will mean even further that we can go together in space,” he emphasised.

Garcetti said that this year, together in space, both countries are creating relationships between “our companies, our people, our governments, our universities, our investors, and our startups, to spur innovation and to make sure that space is a peaceful place for progress for all of us.”

He further highlighted that Astronaut Sunita Williams, whose father is from Mumbai, will soon pilot Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on its first crewed test flight.

“She’s a United States Navy officer, a veteran of two space missions. And this year she will head back into space,” he said.

The US envoy stressed that he would like to deepen the connections between cities like Los Angeles and Mumbai by convening the first US-India cities exchange to bring the very best urban planning ideas on everything from air pollution to public transportation systems, climate change and infrastructure.

“Together, I’d like to accelerate our partnership infrastructure, technology, energy and healthcare so we can have more enduring economic growth,” he said.

Stressing the Quad partnership, Garcetti said that he would like to see India, the US, Australia and Japan expand through the Quad.

“Our cooperation ensures a free and open Indo-Pacific. So let’s start the countdown,” he said.

Garcetti narrated a story, saying, “Sally Ride, an everyday school teacher went into space on the American space shuttle. She was asked, what does it look like in space? And she said, you know what? The stars don’t look bigger, but they look brighter. I challenge you today to look at those stars, stars both literally and figuratively, and to imagine them shining even brighter. Stars by themselves are incredible, but we know the power of stars is when they exist in the constellation. It’s the relationship between them that gave our ancestors the imagination to look at the skies and to see our God, to see creatures, to see order in the chaos that they lived through and to see a spirit of what was to come in the human experience.

First Published: May 23 2024 | 10:29 AM IST