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India's 57th Republic Day celebrated in Washington

Washington, DC
January 27, 2006

Ambassador Ronen Sen held today in Washington DC a reception to mark the 57th Republic Day of India. Senior officials of the US Administration, the diplomatic corps, academics and opinion makers and prominent members of the Indian American community attended the gathering. 

The US Administration was represented at the reception by Steven J. Law, Deputy Secretary, Department of Labour; Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; David McCormick, Under Secretary for Industry and Security, Department of Commerce; General Michael Hagee, Commandant of US Marine Corps; Nils Diaz, Chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and others.

Sen addressed the gathering and said that the Republic Day marks the day in 1950 when independent India adopted a Constitution based on democracy and rule of law. He pointed out that the chapter on Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution was greatly influenced by the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution. He described India-US relations as a truly special relationship which was fast developing into a strategic relationship based on mutual benefit. He expressed complete confidence that the forthcoming visit of President Bush to India would be a major landmark and would impart fresh momentum and content to bilateral ties as well as cooperation between the two countries in the international arena.

Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns spoke on behalf of the US Administration and said the emergence of a strategic partnership between India, the largest democracy in the world and the US, the world’s oldest democracy, was of far-reaching global consequence. He said President Bush was greatly looking forward to his visit and the two governments were working hard to put in place a number of major initiatives of bilateral and international cooperation, including the implementation of initiatives which were announced during the historic visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the USA last year. Under Secretary Burns paid special tribute to the contributions of the Indian American community in strengthening the relationship between India and the US. He said this was not just the case of two countries coming together but a flowering of the relationship in almost every field of contact between the people of India and the US.