PM congratulates US Prez Biden, says committed to working with him to take ties to greater heights

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday congratulated Joe Biden for being sworn in as the President of the United States and said he was committed to working with him to take the India-US partnership to greater heights.

The prime minister also congratulated Kamala Harris on being sworn in as the US Vice President and said he looked forward to interacting with her to make India-US relations more robust.

The India-US partnership is beneficial for our planet, Modi asserted.

Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States and Harris took oath as the first woman vice president in a historic but scaled-down ceremony under the unprecedented security umbrella of thousands of security personnel.

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Biden, a 78-year-old veteran Democrat leader, was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice John Roberts at the West Front of the US Capitol in Washington, the traditional location for presidential inaugural ceremonies, where a deadly violence took place just two weeks ago.

"My warmest congratulations to Joe Biden on his assumption of office as President of the United States of America. I look forward to working with him to strengthen India-US strategic partnership," Modi said.

"My best wishes for a successful term in leading USA as we stand united and resilient in addressing common challenges and advancing global peace and security," he said in a series of tweets.

Noting that India-US partnership is based on shared values, Modi said the two countries have a substantial and multi-faceted bilateral agenda, growing economic engagement and vibrant people to people linkages.

"Committed to working with President Joe Biden to take the India-US partnership to even greater heights," the prime minister said.

The Indo-US strategic ties have been on an upswing in the last few years.

On the future of ties under the new Biden administration, the Ministry of External Affairs had asserted that the foundation of India-US relations is very strong and the comprehensive global strategic partnership between the two countries has bipartisan support in the United States.

The inauguration was held under the watch of more than 25,000 National Guards, who have transformed the US capital into a garrison city, mainly because of the threat of more violent protests by the supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, who became the first president to skip his successor's inauguration since Andrew Johnson in 1869.

Outgoing Vice President Mike Pence attended the ceremony.

Biden enters the White House with the top challenge to lift the country from the devastation of a raging pandemic that has killed more than 4,00,000 Americans and thrown millions into economic distress.