Thank you. Thank you, Excellency.
And let me say that it's my pleasure as well to join you for co-chairing the tenth round of our Joint Commission meeting. I'm joined by the representatives of the Ministry of External Affairs, of Defense, of Commerce and Industry, Science and Technology, and NITI Aayog, which is the government's public policy think tank.
Let me, Excellency, first of all begin by congratulating you on your appointment as Foreign Minister. You have a long and distinguished career, as a diplomat representing your country, so let me offer my best wishes for your successful tenure. Last year, as you noted, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic ties. During our Prime Minister's visit in 2015, our relations were elevated to a special strategic partnership. It is important that we live up to that. We have grown from strength to strength in the years that have passed. We have become truly important partners for each other. And our bilateral exchanges – trade, investments, defense, and S&T cooperation, have all seen a steady growth. While keeping up the momentum in the traditional areas of cooperation, we would be very much interested now in expanding it to new areas, such as critical and emerging technologies, semiconductors, green hydrogen, human resource mobility, nuclear cooperation, supply chain resilience, etc, to make our ties more contemporary.
Excellency, we have also noted the growing convergence of our views in the international forum. Your focus on the Indo-Pacific region is a good case to point, and we both have stakes in its stability, security, and prosperity. Let me say today that I approach this Joint Commission with a great deal of optimism and expectation. I know there is enormous goodwill between us. Our challenge is to translate that into practical outcomes. Our leaders have met twice last year in Hiroshima and in New Delhi. I think their discussions have provided us the guidance to go forward.
So I join you in looking forward to a very successful Joint Commission meeting.
Thank you.