America today is not a declining power but a power which is reinventing itself, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday. During an event organised by Wilton Park at the Royal Over-Seas League in London, Jaishankar commended the strategic approach of the United States in working collaboratively with other nations.

“I would say America today is a power which is reinventing itself. I don’t think it’s a power which is declining,” he asserted.

Calling the United States a “dominant force” which came to the rescue during the devastating 2004 Tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the minister opined, “I am not sure they do today because they have not deployed that many ships and they are not based so proximate.”

Jaishankar went on to commend the strategic approach of the United States in working collaboratively with other nations.

“Americans have had the wisdom to realize that they need to work with other partners and it is this American openness today which is shaping the Indo-Pacific, which has created a body like QUAD,” he said.

Jaishankar, who concluded his five-day visit to the UK on Wednesday, was speaking at an event titled ‘How a billion people see the world’ during which he covered a broad range of topics, including the “momentum” behind India’s growth story, realities of the relations with China and the rise of a “more authentic” India.

The external affairs minister described his visit as “timely” after a series of cross-party engagements amid “substantial progress” on the ongoing free trade agreement negotiations.

“Overall, I would say this visit was timely, and much needed because these personal interactions do a lot in really developing an understanding between countries. I was very satisfied, the British system really made an effort to engage at all the relevant levels from the prime minister downwards, and that itself is a statement of the closeness of our ties today,” he said.