Ahead of PM Modi's visit, India & US hold meet to firm up deliverables in strategic areas

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 7

India and the US on Tuesday held the inaugural India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue (IUSSTD) in Washington to take forward the strategic technology and trade collaborations envisaged under the India-US initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET).

The intention is to line up deliverables before PM Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US a fortnight later.

Supply chains

• Both sides reviewed the relevant bilateral export control regulations with the objective of building and diversifying resilient supply chains for these strategic technologies
• They reviewed ongoing cooperation in multilateral export control regimes and agreed to share best practices
• They also agreed to enhance awareness among the industry, academia and other stakeholders about the export control regimes through workshops and other activities

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and his US counterpart Jake Sullivan had formally launched the initiative in February. They had agreed on collaboration in six broad segments — strengthening innovation ecosystems; defence innovation and tech cooperation; resilient semiconductor supply chains; mobility of space, science, technology, engineering and math talent; and next generation telecommunications.

The IUSSTD was led by Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra. The US delegation was co-led by Alan Estevez, undersecretary for industry and security in the US Department of Commerce, and Victoria Nuland, undersecretary of state for political affairs in the US Department of State.

“The dialogue is a key mechanism to take forward the strategic technology and trade collaborations envisaged under iCET. The IUSSTD focused on ways in which both governments can facilitate the development and trade of technologies in critical domains such as semiconductors, space, telecom, quantum, AI, defence, bio-tech and others,” said a statement from the Indian Embassy in Washington.

Both sides reviewed the relevant bilateral export control regulations with the objective of building and diversifying resilient supply chains for these strategic technologies. They reviewed ongoing cooperation in multilateral export control regimes and agreed to share best practices.

Both also agreed to enhance awareness among the industry, academia and other stakeholders about the export control regimes through workshops and other activities. They acknowledged that the dialogue would be instrumental in enabling co-production, co-development and enhanced industrial collaborations in critical technologies.

A regular monitoring group will review progress in deepening cooperation in the bilateral high-tech trade and technology partnership. The co-chairs agreed to continue the dialogue with the objective of strengthening the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.

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