Introduction

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening everyone.

It’s a pleasure to be here with you today.

I’d like to thank Nissim Reuben and the American Jewish Committee for organizing this event. And thank you to Ambassador Ron Malka and Ambassador Sanjeev Singla for your efforts in strengthening ties between Israel and India. I am proud, as a friend of both nations, to be joining their ambassadors today.

I’d also like to recognize and thank Jason Isaacson, M R Rangaswami, Dr. Bharat Barai, Professor Madhav Nalapat, and Kartikey Sharma.

It’s important to have Israel and India on your side, and not only because of the well-known joke that, when combined, Israel and India make up one-seventh of the world’s population!

But joking aside, USAID is proud to partner with India — the world’s largest democracy — and Israel — a beacon of democracy in a region with so few of them.

If the past several months have taught us anything, it is the value of connectivity.

And that’s what I want to focus on today.

Connectivity is critical to developing partnerships, and to securing economic development and prosperity.

And connectivity cannot be taken for granted — especially when malign nations manipulate digital networks to monitor their citizens’ activities and communications.

U.S. Partnerships with India & Israel

The U.S. has been connecting with Israel and India for over 70 years. And while both nations are rooted in ancient cultures, they are still young in so many ways.

Both countries were reborn in the modern era, freed from colonial domination just years after World War II. Both received foreign assistance and imposed austerity in the years after their independence.

But a pioneering spirit propelled the Indian and Israeli people along their journeys to self-reliance. They liberalized their economies and created education systems that form some of the world’s greatest technological minds.

And in just a few decades, Israel and India have transformed themselves as modern powers, even as they embrace and retain the glory of their ancient heritages.

Today, the U.S. enjoys a strong relationship with both countries, based on shared democratic and free-market principles. We are thrilled to work with these partners to solve the world’s development challenges.

5G Technology

One area we’ve been cooperating on is digital leadership and innovation, particularly in next generation 5G technology.

In July, I chaired a roundtable discussion with several like-minded donors on 5G and digital development. To me, it was extremely important that India and Israel be part of that conversation. And the discussion was richer because of their contributions.

Silicon Valley, Bangalore, and Tel Aviv have all earned reputations as leading, innovative technology hubs, and rightfully so.

So it’s only right that our three nations play a key role in delivering the promise of 5G in a way that is open, interoperable, reliable, and secure. We cannot allow any nation to dominate this technology or use it to dominate other nations.

Expanding on the U.S.-India-Israel Partnership

But the cooperation and connectivity between our three countries is not just about digital leadership and economic gain. It’s about building self-reliance, shared prosperity, individual freedom, and democratic institutions.

America’s goal is to build friendships that are mutually beneficial and mutually respectful. We seek friends who share our values and want to be our strategic partners. Israel and India are inspiring success stories of our foreign assistance aim -- to raise our friends to self-sustaining prosperity and sovereignty.

We believe this approach stands in contrast to others who seek to dominate their partners and who use assistance as a tool of control.

So it's only natural that our development agencies work together — transparently and openly.

This is why, last year, USAID signed an MOU with MASHAV, Israel’s international development agency. And that’s why we are collaborating with India’s Development Partnership Administration to support trilateral activities throughout the South Asia region and the world.

And we hope to establish soon the US-India Development Foundation—a first-of-its-kind institution to mobilize India’s domestic resources to address the country’s key development challenges.

Conclusion

I’ll close by reiterating that this meeting is a chance to continue a dialogue that has so much more potential. I deeply believe that our three nations can gain so much from continuing to connect with each other.

So I thank AJC for its leadership in convening this forum among like-minded, democractic nations, who are working together to build the new points of connectivity throughout the world.

I look forward to hearing about the fruitful discussion from the panels later today.

Thank you.