India and US Forge Strong Partnership, Affirming Vision for the Future

New Delhi: After talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden at the White House, India and the United States together “affirmed a vision of their being among the closest partners in the world — a partnership of democracies looking into the 21st century with hope, ambition, and confidence” and their “Comprehensive Global and Strategic Partnership anchored in a new level of trust and mutual understanding” that “spans the seas to the stars”, a joint statement issued in the early hours Friday (IST) said.

With an obvious eye on China, the two nations mentioned the Quad as a mechanism “to contribute toward a free, open, inclusive, and resilient Indo-Pacific”, besides warning Pakistan and asking it to ensure that th territory under its control was not used by terrorists. Expressing their “deep concern over the conflict in Ukraine and mourning its terrible and tragic humanitarian consequences”, both leaders “pledged to render continuing humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine”, while calling for respect for international law, the principles of the UN Charter, and territorial integrity and sovereignty. But there was no direct criticism of Russia due to India’s sensitivities.

India and the US also announced a series of pacts and other measures to boost bilateral ties in defence, space, trade, technology and people-to-people ties. Both perhaps the most significant area was the defence sector, with the two leaders “welcoming the adoption of a Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap (DICR), which will provide policy direction to defense industries and enable co-production of advanced defence systems and collaborative research, testing, and prototyping of projects”. They also “welcomed India’s emergence as a hub for maintenance and repair for forward deployed US Navy assets and the conclusion of Master Ship Repair Agreements with Indian shipyards that will allow the US Navy to expedite the contracting process for mid-voyage and emergent repair”. Under the DICR, both countries will “work together for the creation of logistics, repair, and maintenance infrastructure for aircrafts and vessels in India”.

On the “landmark signing of an MoU between General Electric and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the manufacture of GE F-414 jet engines in India” for the IAF Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk 2, the joint statement said “this trail-blazing initiative to manufacture F-414 engines in India will enable greater transfer of US jet engine technology than ever before”. The two leaders also “welcomed India’s plans to procure General Atomics MQ-9B HALE UAVs (armed Predator drones), with the joint statement declaring that “the MQ-9Bs, which will be assembled in India, will enhance the ISR (surveillance and reconnaisance) capabilities of India’s armed forces across domains (and that) as part of this plan, General Atomics will also establish a Comprehensive Global MRO facility in India to support of India’s long-term goals to boost indigenous defence capabilities”.

Pointing out that the “India-US major defence partnership has emerged as a pillar of global peace and security”, President Biden and Mr Modi “appreciated the strong military-to-military ties, mutual logistics support, and efforts to streamline implementation of foundational agreements”, and “also reiterated their resolve to strengthen maritime security cooperation, including through enhanced underwater domain awareness”. The two leaders also “welcomed the setting up and launch of the India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X)”, a network of universities, startups, industry and think tanks that will “facilitate joint defense technology innovation, and co-production of advanced defense technology between the respective industries of the two countries”.

In a strong stand against cross-border terrorism that effectively warned Pakistan, the joint statement said: “The United States and India stand together to counter global terrorism. … PM Modi and President Biden reiterated the call for concerted action against all UN-listed terrorist groups including Al-Qa’ida, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar e-Tayyaba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizb-ul-Mujhahideen. They strongly condemned cross-border terrorism, the use of terrorist proxies and called on Pakistan to take immediate action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for launching terrorist attacks. They called for the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks to be brought to justice. They noted with concern the increasing global use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drones and information and communication technologies for terrorist purposes”.

On H1-B visas that will make mobility easier for Indians working in the US, the two leaders “welcomed an announcement by the US department of state that it would launch a pilot to adjudicate domestic renewals of certain petition-based temporary work visas later this year, including for Indian nationals, with the intent to implement this for an expanded pool of H1-B and L visa holders in 2024 and eventually broadening the programme to include other eligible categories”.

President Biden also “looked forward to the G-20 summit in September in New Delhi and applauded India’s leadership in its ongoing G-20 presidency”, with Modi also “looking forward to the visit of President Biden” to the summit.

The joint statement said that “Prime Minister Modi and President Biden are united in their determination to use the G-20 to deliver on shared priorities for the G-20 Leaders’ Summit, including improving the sovereign debt restructuring process; advancing the multilateral development bank evolution agenda, including mobilising new concessional financing at the World Bank to support all developing countries”.

Besides defence, other sectors also received equal focus. In space, they “welcomed the decision of Nasa and Isro to develop a strategic framework for human space flight cooperation by the end of 2023” and “hailed the announcement by Nasa to provide advanced training to Indian astronauts at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, with a goal of mounting a joint effort to the International Space Station in 2024”.

The leaders “celebrated the delivery of the Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite to Isro’s U.R. Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, India, and looked forward to NISAR’s 2024 launch from India”, the joint statement declared, adding that “President Biden deeply appreciated India’s signing of the Artemis Accords, which advance a common vision of space exploration for the benefit of all humankind”.

On trade ties, both leaders “welcomed the launch of the inter-agency-led Strategic Trade Dialogue (this month) and directed both sides to undertake regular efforts to address export controls, explore ways of enhancing high technology commerce, and facilitate technology transfer between the two countries”.

On technology, the two leaders hailed the inauguration of the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) in January this year “as a major milestone in India-US relations” and “launched two joint task forces on advanced telecommunications, focused on Open RAN and research and development in 5G/6G technologies”, with “public-private cooperation between vendors and operators will be led by India’s Bharat 6G Alliance and the US Next G Alliance”.  
With an eye on China, both leaders “expressed concern over coercive actions and rising tensions, and strongly oppose destabilizing or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force” and also mentioned “challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the East and South China Seas”.

On Afghanistan, the two leaders “called on the Taliban to respect the human rights of all Afghans, including women and girls, and to respect freedom of movement”. They also decided to strengthen the I2U2 grouping in the Middle East -- of India, Israel, United Arab Emirates and the United States — to enhance food and energy security.

On freedom and democracy, the joint statement said: “The United States and India reaffirm and embrace their shared values of freedom, democracy, human rights, inclusion, pluralism, and equal opportunities for all citizens. Both countries have a tradition of recognising the diversity represented in their nations and celebrating the contributions of all their citizens. They reasserted that democracy, freedom, and rule of law are the shared values that anchor global peace and sustainable development.”