Embassy of India

Washington DC

Washington DC
February 7, 2019

The Co-Chairs of the Senate India Caucus and Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans- Senator John Cornyn, Senator Mark Warner, Congressman Brad Sherman and Congressman George Holding hosted a Congressional Reception to welcome Ambassador Harsh V. Shringla on his taking over as India's Ambassador to the United States at the Capitol Hill on February 7, 2019.

The event was attended by an unprecedented 67 Members of Congress, including Senators. In addition, leaders of the Indian-American community from across the United States, business associations and members of the media attended the event.

In their welcome remarks, Senator Warner, Senator Cornyn, Congressman Sherman and Congressman Holding underlined the importance of the India-US strategic partnership and the critical role played by Congress, in particular, the India Caucus in strengthening relations. They extended a warm welcome to the Ambassador and committed to working together in building closer ties between the two countries. They also appreciated the significant role played by the Indian-American community in building bridges of understanding across the two cultures and nations. They called upon the new members to join the India Caucus. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney in her remarks mentioned that she will be introducing a bill in the 116th Congress to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Mahatma Gandhi in this 150th Birth Anniversary year. Congressman Gregory Meeks in his remarks stated that Mahatma Gandhi had been an inspiration for him. Congresswoman Grace Meng mentioned her support for India's permanent membership of the UN Security Council. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer also attended and spoke about the great contributions of the Indian-American community across all fields in the US.

Ambassador Harsh V. Shringla, in his remarks, thanked the Caucus Co-Chairs for their warm welcome. Ambassador noted that the bipartisan support for the India-US strategic partnership was reflected in the turnout of the Members of Congress across the aisle for the event. Further, the overwhelming support for the relationship with India is attested by the fact that the India Caucus is the largest country-specific Caucus on the Hill. He thanked the Indian-American diaspora for serving as the cultural Ambassadors of India and contributing to a strong foundation for the strategic partnership between the world's oldest and largest democracies. Ambassador also spoke in brief about the progress made in bilateral ties over the past year across all domains - defense, economic and trade, energy cooperation, culture and people-to-people exchanges.

Please click here for the full remarks of Ambassador.

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