Note ban doesn't impact India-US bilateral relations, says Richard Verma

Kolkata: US Ambassador to India Richard Verma said demonetisation drive would not affect the bilateral relationship between New Delhi and Washington. He also made it clear that such relationship with India was much broader than that with Pakistan. Earlier, Mr Verma also called on chief minister Mamata Banerjee at state secretariat Nabanna and held a meeting with her.

“It really does not have an impact on the bilateral relationship between US and India. We understand what the prime minister was trying to do in cracking down on the corruption. We also understand that it had an impact on the people and their day to day lives. But we also understand the overall purpose for it,” Mr Verma said during a meet at Kolkata Press Club.

Responding to queries whether they would follow in the footsteps of Russian embassy, which had recently written a letter to the Ministry external affairs to lift the restrictions of cash withdrawal for its diplomats, Mr Verma said, “We have a lot of locally employed staff in our embassies and consulates and we have been trying to help. We are going to be a constructive partner and we work well with the Ministry of External Affairs and Prime Minister’s Office. We have a very excellent working relationship with the ministry and that will continue in the future.”

While speaking on cross border terrorism, he said, “We strongly condemn cross-border terrorism. It needs to end and perpetrators need to be held accountable. Our security relationship with Pakistan is complex it is focused on counter-terrorism but our relationship with India is far broader.”

Meanwhile, Mr Verma today said the military logistics memorandum agreement signed with India was mundane in nature and was only limited to logistics.

“The logistics memorandum agreement between India and the US is only limited to logistics and mundane in nature. There is no question of India compromising on its security by signing the pact. Defence relations with India stand on its own and is not a buyer-seller relation” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury had earlier demanded the contents of the military logistics pact between India and the US be made public. He was in Kolkata to attend the inaugural plenary session on “Indo-Asia Connectivity for Shared Prosperity.”

When asked about his meeting with CM Mamata Banerjee, Mr Verma said, “We had a delightful meeting with the chief minister. We talked about sectors that were growing and looking for outside investment. We talked about how to build strong linkages between US and the state in skill training and education. We already have a lot of US companies here and we want to do more.”