American Secretary of State Antony Blinken “underscored India’s role as a pre-eminent partner of the US in the Indo-Pacific” during a discussion with Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on expanding ties, a top official said in New York. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that Blinken called Jaishankar in January “to reaffirm the growing US-India partnership and discuss issues of mutual concern, including Covid-19 vaccination efforts, regional developments, and next steps in expanding bilateral ties”.

“Both agreed to coordinate closely on global developments,” he said. Taking to Twitter following the talks, Jaishankar said: “Warm conversation with Secretary of State @SecBlinken. Congratulated him on his appointment. Look forward to working with him again. Agreed that we could build further on the solid foundation of our partnership. Also discussed our efforts at combating the Covid-19 pandemic.” The two had worked together and met in New Delhi when Jaishankar was the Foreign Secretary and Blinken was the Deputy Secretary of State in 2015.

Price said that they looked forward to meeting in person at the earliest opportunity. During their conversation, Blinken also stressed the importance of working together to expand regional cooperation, including through the Quad, the spokesman added.