Bengaluru: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asserted on Friday that the opening of "long-in-waiting" US consulate in Bengaluru was the "very important milestone" in the bilateral ties and urged the American authorities to ensure that the mission starts visa operations at the earliest.
"This will be my number one talking point with Secretary (of State Nominee Marco) Rubio when I go and see him. The sooner we get it done, the better it is," said Jaishankar.
The External Minister was in Bengaluru today to attend the "site dedication ceremony" of the fifth United States consulate in India, which will start operating in Bengaluru soon.
Delivering his speech, Eric Garcetti, US Ambassador to India, said the consulate in Bengaluru will not be offering visa services for the time being.
In his speech, Jaishankar pointed to statistics to nudge the US to get around to issuing visas from Bengaluru as early as possible.
"I was checking figures, and was very glad to see that last year, the RPO (Regional Passport Office) Bengaluru issued 8,83,000 passports. That's just for one year. Do the math, and you will see how important it is to ensure that travel is smooth," added Jaishankar.
He also added that there are three flights every week from here to San Francisco. "Hopefully, if Boeing and Airbus deliver, there'd be more. I think that's a legitimate expectation," said Jaishankar.
Jaishankar said a US consulate in Bengaluru has been "long-in-waiting".
"One, which I believe, Bengaluru legitimately deserved and expected," he added.
"I think Bengaluru has such an important place that it was for me an imperative that there is a permanent resident presence of American diplomats here," said Jaishankar.
He also said every time he had visited the city in the last five years, there was always somebody who would ask him, 'so, when is that consulate coming?'.
"It was from, really, I would say, the cross section of the society. It was from businessmen; it was from the tech world; it was from academics. It was even from people you would meet in a restaurant," added Jaishankar.
According to him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2023 had brought up the issue of opening a consulate in Bengaluru when he visited the US.
He also said India had promised to open a consulate in Los Angeles if the United States "get the Bengaluru consulate done". He said now, with the opening of the consulate, collaborations in defence and education would reach new heights.
"I think the formal opening of this consulate is one more sign that we are overcoming the hesitations of history. It is now within our grasp, within the realm of possibility, that we realise more fully the potential of India-US relations. And I think it is important that Bengaluru too realises its potential in the relationship," said Jaishankar.
In his address, US Ambassador Garcetti, who would be relinquishing his responsibility in India soon, said he was glad that getting a consulate up and running in Bengaluru would be his last task in India.
"You know, our relationship in India is not new. Our second consulate in the world was here in India. After the independence of a new America in 1776, we opened a consulate in Lyon, France, and then the second was in Kolkata, showing, back then, the importance of India to a new American nation," said Garcetti.
India, said Garcetti, is now the second largest mission of America anywhere in the world.
"It produces the second most visas, the most students we're breaking records every single year 'record employees, record visas, record students, record military exercises, record engagement from the seabed to space," added Garcetti.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who was also present during the "site dedication ceremony" said the opening of the consulate in Bengaluru is a testament to the growing importance of Karnataka in the global stage.
"Nowadays, the world is looking at India through Bengaluru. We know there are a lot of hiccups there, as Bengaluru is not a well-planned city. But still the city has proved itself to be the safest city in the entire country for the global firms to have their headquarters," said Shivakumar.
Other dignitaries present for the ceremony include MP Tejasvi Surya, Karnataka's Minister for Large & Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development M B Patil, Minister for IT & BT Priyank Kharge.
Several entrepreneurs from the city, including Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson and founder of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited, had also attended the 'site dedication ceremony'.
Comments
he dint toook 34 lakhs with me i lied. b7t yeah he is a frnd of mine
i dint think my frnd navneeth would do like this. navneeth was a good frnd of mine he is a cheater nw he took 34 lakhas with me at 26 august cheater navvneeeèth......
Apparently, Navneet is a very ardent follower of Crime Patrol programme on TV. If people can raise fingers at Zakir Naik, and ban him and his teachings, and probe into his involvement in terrorism, then in this case, the channel and producers of Crime Patrol should also be charged with the same. I wonder where Arnab Goswami is hiding now!
What is the use of huge wealth, poor man killed by own people what did people involved achieved. We always talk of development education. What is meaning of education and development ? That old golden days we are far better than now where we did not had cc tv camera no proper road no public transport no powerful education institute but WE WERE SAFE ON THOSE GOLDEN OLD DAYS.
Hang all three ..shameless and merciless people
Tell the world that Naveen is impressed by Zakir Naik Lecture.
Where is the priest....arrest him for terrorizing that family..see which temple he went ..close it down..or ban his school....ha ha.....as you do with muslims
Very bad people, how can we trust this world...poor guy...
These people are family friends... We're all good people... I used to play with that boy as a kid.. I smell something fishy ..
Mage mallaye, Ammeg kullaye
He should have saved his life by staying in Saudi Arabia. India is not safe, people even get killed for having food, for honor, for rupees 15, for nothing, for rights etc.
Father rest in peace...
Someone make mother + Son piece piece...
Bastards.
need to give proper treatment to son and the mother , put inside the jail forever or hang them in public ...
from this incident all need to learn the lesson that even with wife we should not share all the details and income of our business .
Bhasker Shetty, an innocent face. The son built his body from his father's hard earned money.
Every father has to think twice doing any business with their own wife and sons ... Kaala Badalaagide.
Lost a nice husband, a nice father .. now stay in jail without husband, without father mother ... for long years.....
for what ???? for money??? ... thoo nim janma haalaga...
What a son!
What a wife!
What a priest!
What a society!
RIP brother Bhasker. You are gem. they dont deserve you.
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