U.S. Shares India's Desire For More Interconnected South Asia

WASHINGTON: Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to reach out to all of India’s neighbours, a top American diplomat has said the U.S. shares India’s desire for a South Asia that is better and more interconnected.

“It is refreshing to see that Prime Minister Modi has reached out to all of India’s neighbors as its first acts, and I think that those are very positive signs,” Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat, nominee to be the U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh, told Senators during her confirmation hearing.

“We share with India a desire for a region that is better and more interconnected because it is the least interconnected region, particularly from an economic standpoint,” she said.

“We share also with India a desire to see Bangladesh be a strong, pluralistic democracy that is free of political violence and that, of course, is stable. So we work constantly with India as well as other diplomatic partners to that end. I think Prime Minister Modi’s early actions are very encouraging in that regard,” Bernicat said in response to a question from Senator Time Kaine, who chaired hearing.

“They certainly are encouraging in terms of his own actions, and they were received that way in Bangladesh as well,” Kaine said, referring to the recent steps by the Modi government towards Bangladesh; which was the first solo foreign trip of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

In her testimony, Bernicat said as the world’s eighth-largest country by population and third-largest Muslim-majority nation, Bangladesh is known for its moderate, secular, pluralistic traditions.