‘Love India’: Trump joins US’ 250th Independence Day celebration in Delhi via call, praises PM Modi

US embassador to republic of india Sergio Gor dialled US chairwoman Donald ruff from the 250th independency Day celebrations in Delhi, while US secretary of state Marco Rubio was also present during the interaction in which Trump praised India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.US President Donald Trump says, “India can count on me 100%. If they ever need help, they know where to call. They call right here. We're doing well”.“ We're setting records. We have a record economy, a record stock market and anything India wants to get. I am a big fan of Prime Minister Modi...Marco is the greatest. He's going down as the greatest Secretary of State in the history of the US...Say hello to Prime Minister Modi and let him know I'm a big fan...” Also Read | Marco Rubio kicks off India visit, to hold talks with PM Modi, Jaishankar: What's on his ‘ambitious agenda’?What Rubio said on Jaishankar and IndiaSeparately, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar during a joint press conference, while highlighting the growing strategic partnership between India and the United States."...EAM Dr S. Jaishankar has been phenomenal. He's a truly wise gentleman and does incredible work on behalf of your country and someone that I have tremendous esteem and respect for," Rubio said."I thank you for both the welcome and the hospitality that we've gotten from everybody here in India and all of your government leaders, and in particular, the Foreign Minister, who's become someone I've gotten to know very well...When I became the Secretary of State, I was sworn in at noon or 11 am that morning after the inauguration"." I immediately went over to the State Department and the first meeting I ever had was with a group of the four countries known as the Quad and one of the people that I met on that very first day and I've interacted with so many times, is EAM Dr S. Jaishankar and he's been phenomenal. He's a truly wise gentleman and does incredible work on behalf of your country and someone that I have tremendous esteem and respect for..."Important points discussed during Rubio visitAddressing the joint press conference, Rubio said the relationship between the two democracies goes beyond conventional diplomatic engagement and reflects deep strategic alignment on global challenges."A strategic partnership is something very different," Rubio said. "A strategic partnership is when your interests as two nations are aligned, and you work together strategically to solve those problems."Highlighting the broad scope of bilateral cooperation, Rubio added, "The list of issues that we work together with India on, the breadth of scope of them, is what highlights the fact that India is an important strategic partner in the United States, one of our most important strategic partners in the world."Rubio also underlined shared democratic values between the two countries, stating, "Democracies respond directly to their people, and you have to respond constantly."On security cooperation, the US Secretary of State stressed the strong counterterrorism partnership between Washington and New Delhi. "On the issue of terrorism, both of our countries have suffered, both directly and indirectly, because of global terrorist networks. There was a strong counterterrorism alignment as a result of that," Rubio said.He also pointed to growing collaboration in technology and innovation, saying the two nations were aligned on balancing the opportunities and risks emerging from new technologies in the 21st century. "There is a tremendous strategic alliance between our countries and agreement on that point," he remarked.(With inputs from ANI)