India, U.S. Vow to Boost Defense, Trade Ties
India and the United States have pledged to boost defense and technology cooperation and remove long-standing barriers to bilateral strategic trade.
Then-U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his counterpart, Ajit Doval, met in New Delhi in June 2024 to discuss progress on the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies, which the two countries launched in 2022.
The initiative sets a path for collaboration on semiconductor production and developing artificial intelligence and was critical in sealing a deal that will allow U.S.-based General Electric to partner with India’s Hindustan Aeronautics to produce jet engines in India.
Doval and Sullivan emphasized the need for more collaboration, with a focus on funding research in areas such as semiconductor manufacturing, clean energy and machine learning. They also discussed possible coproduction of land warfare systems, according to a joint statement.
Sullivan also held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which the two reaffirmed their nations’ commitment to bolstering ties, and he met with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
India and the U.S. have grown closer recently, as both countries monitor the People’s Republic of China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. During Modi’s state visit to the U.S. in 2023, he and then-U.S. President Joe Biden called their nations’ relationship among the world’s most consequential.
The Associated Press
