During the meeting, Prime Minister Modi conveyed his appreciation for the unparalleled contributions made by President Biden in giving impetus to the India-US partnership.Recalling his State visit to the US in June 2023 and President Biden’s visit to India in September 2023 for the G-20 Leaders’ Summit, Modi said that the visits have imparted greater dynamism and depth to the India-US partnership.”I thank President Biden for hosting me at his residence in Greenville, Delaware. Our talks were extremely fruitful. We had the opportunity to discuss regional and global issues during the meeting,” Modi said in a post on X.During the meeting, Biden said the US supports initiatives to reform global institutions to reflect India’s important voice, including permanent membership for India in a reformed UN Security Council.The two leaders “expressed unrelenting optimism and the utmost confidence that the tireless efforts of our peoples, our civic and private sectors, and our governments to forge deeper bonds have set the US-India partnership on a path toward even greater heights in the decades ahead,” the statement said.They also commended the progress that has made the US-India Major Defence Partnership a “pillar of global security and peace”, highlighting the benefits of increased operational coordination, information-sharing, and defence industrial innovation.They said a closer US-India partnership is vital to the success of efforts to build a “cleaner, inclusive, more secure, and more prosperous future for the planet”.The two leaders applauded the success of the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) in deepening and expanding strategic cooperation across key technology sectors and highlighted ongoing efforts to strengthen collaboration with “like-minded partners”, to build more secure and resilient supply chains for critical industries.Modi and Biden hailed a watershed arrangement to establish a new semiconductor fabrication plant, which will be enabled by support from the India Semiconductor Mission as well as a strategic technology partnership between Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the US Space Force.They also welcomed progress towards the first joint effort by NASA and ISRO to conduct scientific research onboard the International Space Station in 2025 and appreciated the initiatives and exchange of ideas under the Civil Space Joint Working Group.Recognising the “remarkable” progress under the US-India Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap, the two leaders welcomed efforts to expand defence industrial partnerships, including the teaming of Liquid Robotics and Sagar Defence Engineering for the co-development and co-production of unmanned surface vehicle systems that strengthen undersea and maritime domain awareness.Biden and Modi welcomed the US-India Roadmap to Build Safe and Secure Global Clean Energy Supply Chains, which launched a new initiative to accelerate the expansion of safe and secure clean energy supply chains through US and Indian manufacturing of clean energy technologies and components.In its initial phase, the US and India would work together to unlock USD 1 billion of multilateral financing to support projects across the clean energy value chain, said the joint statement.During the meeting, respect for human rights and democracy were also discussed, according to a US official.“I think every time we meet with all of our partners, we talk about human rights and respect for human rights and democracy. So I don’t think this meeting is any different than any that we always have,” a senior administration official told reporters after the meeting between the two leaders.No other details were shared by the senior administration official when asked if the assassination of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar came up during the Modi-Biden bilateral. The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in September last year of the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar. India has dismissed Trudeau’s charges as “absurd” and “motivated.”
Source link
