Washington | Energy cooperation has emerged as one of the most promising areas of the US and India relationship despite differences in perspective on a few issues, a senior official at the Indian mission here has said.
Namgya Khampa, India's Deputy Chief of Mission in the US, was addressing an outreach event at the Capitol Hill by the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS) on Tuesday, when she said crude oil, LNG, LPG and civil nuclear form key areas for strengthening energy cooperation between the US and India.
"We in India have a growing energy demand and the United States has energy abundance and I think that creates a natural partnership that we are committed to further deepening," Khampa said.
"Crude oil, LNG, LPG, they're all contributing significantly to India's energy security and our partnership with the US being a key factor in that. And they also support jobs and investment and economic growth and we're happy to take this cooperation further," she said.
The Indian mission official also spoke about the civil nuclear cooperation between the two countries, a point that was also mentioned by a senior US State Department official.
"In this context, civil nuclear cooperation is also a significant opportunity for both sides to seize and the passage of India's landmark SHANTI legislation creates new possibilities for commercial collaboration and brings us closer to realising the commercial promise of the historic civil nuclear understanding that we had reached decades ago," Khampa said.
Addressing the same event, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Bethany Poulos Morrison said the US-India energy trade relationship was expanding rapidly.
"We are exchanging goods in American oil, gas, and coal and both sides are exploring expanding civil nuclear cooperation under the newly passed Shanti Act," Morrison said.
"The US-India hydrocarbon trade has expanded significantly since 2025, reaching USD 14.4 billion to date," she said.
Khampa said the India-US partnership has been described as one of the most seminal and defining partnerships of the 21st century.
"I think that description is justified not because we are 100 per cent aligned and agree on every issue, because we do not necessarily, as is natural, but because the strategic logic underpinning the relationship has become stronger over the years," she said.
"And I think that the year that has gone by and what we have managed to build together over the last year shows us the resilience of the partnership," she said.
"The fact that despite differences in perspective and position on a few issues, what has held us together is the importance of the endeavour and the strength and resilience of the partnership that has been acquired over two decades of commitment and vision and investment in what I love to describe as one of the most important strategic endeavours that India has undertaken with any country across our history," Khampa said.
The depth of this engagement has helped us to further advance on the bilateral agenda, she said, adding, "The reality, I believe, is that there is a lot that brings us together and that makes us stronger together."
