As the world confronts the COVID-19 pandemic and an economic slowdown, it is time to renew the promise of a ''unique partnership'' between India and America that can directly benefit a fifth of humanity, India's ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu has said.

In an opinion piece titled 'Meeting the Challenge of our Times: Deepening the India-US Partnership' in American news outlet Newsweek, Sandhu outlines five key areas of cooperation between New Delhi and Washington that will benefit not just the two democracies but also help usher a safer, healthier, and more prosperous world.

These areas are fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, combating climate change, digital capabilities, education partnership and deepening defense and strategic partnership.

''As the world comes to terms with its biggest disruption in more than half a century, it is time to renew the promise of a unique partnership that can directly benefit a fifth of humanity, and can be a source of durable peace and security for the rule-based world order,'' Sandhu writes.

While the two countries have forged a “remarkable partnership” over the last two decades built on a bipartisan consensus in the US and cross-party support in India, Sandhu said under the new US administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris: “we can build on that foundation to benefit our nations and the world”.

''Our immediate work with the US administration will focus on confronting the pandemic, advancing our wide-ranging cooperation in health care, which ranges from scientific exchanges (five vaccine collaborations are currently underway) to pharmaceutical inputs and exchange of best practices,” he said.

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