US Commerce Secy recalls her meeting with PM Modi, India’s visit

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo appreciated PM Narendra Modi as an ‘unbelievable visionary’. She called the Indian Prime Minister the most popular world leader with the commitment and desire to move India forward as a global power, according to the news agency PTI. 

Raimondo recounted her recent interactions with Prime Minister Modi, during an event hosted by the Indian Embassy here on Saturday. She was in India last month for the India-US Commercial Dialogue and India-US CEO Forum meeting. She led a high-powered business delegation to India.

She said, “I had an incredible opportunity to spend more than an hour and a half with Prime Minister Modi. He is the most popular world leader for a reason. He is unbelievable, and visionary and his level of commitment to the people of India is just indescribable and deep and passionate and real and authentic.”

"And his desire to lift people out of poverty and move India forward as a global power is real, and it is happening,” Raimondo said. 

“The best part of the meeting for me was this. Anyone who knows Prime Minister Modi, all of you knows, he is a tech guy and he is deep into the details. So, I found myself at his home at 7.30 on a Friday night, talking about the details of radio access networks and artificial intelligence. It was just amazing,” she added.

According to the US Commerce Secretary, there will be two ecosystems in the coming years--one consistent with democratic values and another not. 

"I said to him, the United States and India need to lead the world together in this technology ecosystem. Without missing a beat, after he traveled all week, he said to me, well, Secretary AI doesn't stand for artificial intelligence. He said, "AI is America-India technology,” she said as quoted by PTI. 

She asserted that India and the United States would lead the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. “We're entering into a new era of even deeper collaboration and partnership between the United States and India. I use that word partnership deliberately, young partnership equal partners working together.”

She also acknowledged that the best of India was on display during her visit, in terms of culture, tradition, and celebrations.

(With PTI inputs)