External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal during the weekly media briefing in Delhi, on November 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

India “celebrates” the U.S. election process, said the government on Thursday (November 7, 2024), and Prime Minister Narendra Modi told U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that India looks forward to future cooperation with the United States during his tenure. During his call to Mr. Trump to congratulate him for his victory in the elections on Wednesday (November 6, 2024), Mr. Modi had “recalled their memorable interactions” during his first tenure (2016-2020), including two public rallies they had addressed together in Houston and Gandhinagar, according to a statement released on Thursday (November 7, 2024).

“As a fellow democracy, India celebrates this expression of people’s mandate in the United States,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told journalists at a weekly briefing on Thursday (November 7, 2024). “Prime Minister Modi conveyed to President-elect that we look forward to working very closely, as he had done with him earlier as well to further strengthen the India-U.S. comprehensive global and strategic partnership”, he said, elaborating on the conversation that Mr. Modi had announced on social media a day earlier.

According to government sources, during the conversation, Mr. Trump had praised Mr. Modi as a “magnificent man” and India as a “magnificent country”.

“Both leaders reiterated the importance of the India-U.S. Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, for the benefit of the people of the two countries as well as for global peace and stability,” said the MEA in a statement, adding that the leaders committed to working together to “further strengthen bilateral ties across technology, defence, energy, space and several other sectors”.

Asked whether Mr. Modi would travel to the U.S. for Mr. Trump’s inauguration ceremony on January 20, 2025, officials said they were not aware of any plans for the Prime Minister’s travels to the U.S. Next week, Mr. Modi will leave for a three-nation tour to Nigeria, Brazil and Guyana. In Brazil, he will attend the G-20 summit which the U.S.’s outgoing President, Joseph Biden, is expected to attend as well. In 2025, New Delhi will host the Quad summit, and Mr. Trump will be expected to travel to India at that time.

File picture of Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Chief Adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, on Wednesday congratulated U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on his election victory. Bangladesh and the U.S. “share a long history of friendship and collaboration across numerous areas of mutual interest,” Mr. Yunus said in a letter.

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“Excellency, aligning with our commitment to a peaceful andinclusive society, the government and the peace-loving people of Bangladesh look forward to partner and collaborate in your efforts in addressing the global challenges in the pursuit of peace, harmony, stability and prosperity for all,” said Mr. Yunus in his letter.

Leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party Tarique Rahman, who is living in exile in the U.K., has also congratulated Mr. Trump. Despite the formal communication, commentators in and out of Bangladesh have pointed out that Mr. Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, is a well-known friend of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton — both fierce critics of Donald Trump.

Mr. Yunus had described the victory of Mr. Trump in 2016 as an “eclipse”.

“Yunus’s liberal politics, which have helped earn him the support of many top U.S. Democrats, including Bill and Hillary Clinton puts him at odds with Trump. They are far from ideological bedfellows,” Michael Kugelman of Wilson Centre stated on November 3. Ahead of the poll, Mr. Trump had slammed attacks against minorities in Bangladesh.