US govt to continue cooperation to combat drug menace in Mizoram: Verma

Aizawl: US government’s Drugs Enforcement Agency (DEA) would continue assisting the Mizoram government in combating drugs menace in the state, American Ambassador to India Richard Verma on Friday said.
US government has helped Mizoram Excise and Narcotics Department by imparting special training and providing equipment for fighting drugs menace, considering the state’s strategic location close to Myanmar, through which drugs from the Golden Triangle are smuggled to western countries, he said.
Mizoram shares 404-km long porous international border with Myanmar. Verma said the US government would cooperate with the Mizoram State AIDS Control Society (MSACS) through ‘Project Sunrise’ in combatting spread of HIV/AIDS. Verma said he saw avenues of investment by the American companies in Mizoram in energy and tourism sectors.
Meanwhile he added that the last two years have marked the best in the Indo-US relationship when President Obama and Prime Minister Modi met nine times and several initiative were undertaken, US Ambassador Richard Verma on Friday said. He said his country strongly condemns repeated incursions and infiltrations by Pakistan-backed terrorist groups into India.
President Obama and Prime Minister Modi met nine times in the two years, when three summits were held, over a hundred initiatives taken up and 40 working groups at the top government levels set up, Verma told an interactive session with students and faculty of Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University here.
He said the volume of trade between the two democratic countries was over USD 110 bn with 500 American companies investing in India and over 200 Indian companies having investments in the US.
He said 1.2 million Americans visited India during last year. Verma said the biggest issue before the two countries in the coming decade would be clean energy and combating climate change and Delhi and Washington would cooperate in civil nuclear and carbon-free power generation.
Digital connectivity and Internet super-highways are the areas where the two nations should work together not only for bilateral benefit but also to benefit other countries, he added.
Verma said the US wants peace in the region and has condemned terrorist activities in the Indo-Pak border areas. US and India have been working together to build aircraft carrier and combat aircraft including helicopters as the two countries have strong Defense Trade and Technology Initiatives he added. (PTI)