Houston: Calling the two countries as "natural partners", a top US lawmaker has said that America cannot afford to neglect India and that both need each other to tackle the growing threat of terrorism.
Senator John Cornyn said this in his address to over 600 prominent businessmen and community leaders during an annual gala hosted by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston (IACCGH), that marked 15 years of building strong ties between the city's business community and India.
On the issue of the growing threat of terrorism, Cornyn stated that the US cannot afford to neglect India and the two countries need each other to tackle the threat of terrorism.
Cornyn praised the Chamber for strengthening "the critically important US-India partnership."
He believed that the "ideological bond" between the two nations would translate into a "powerful partnership" as natural allies on the world stage. Noting the successful Indian Mars mission, he saw opportunities for collaboration with NASA in Houston.
The truth is, he said, America and India are "natural partners".
In 2004, Cornyn and then-Senator Hillary Clinton had founded the Senate India Caucus as a bipartisan coalition and forum for senators to work closely with Indian government officials and Indian-Americans in promoting US-India bilateral relations and to candidly discuss issues of common interest.
He said, the India Caucus is the only single-country caucus and it reflects the great recognition of the strategic alliance that should exist between the two nations.
He said that there are several priorities that the US needs to focus on ? the primary one being federal approval for the export of LNG to India which he has "pushed" to accelerate this process as it will be good for the partnership mutual strategic interests of the two countries.
The Chief Guest of the evening, Judge Ed Emmett believed that "India is our future."
He was proud to take a trade mission to India in December and stated that it was not just a trade mission but "a partnership," he said.
According to him, India is not just "an economic partner but a spiritual partner as well."
The gala was also attended by Noble Prize Winner (1996) Robert Curl and University of Houston Chancellor Renu Khator, among others.
