As Prime Minister Narendra Modi flies to the US on Tuesday, on his agenda is a meeting with US President Joe Biden centered around discussions on strengthening bilateral cooperation in defence production, trade and investment, and technology partnerships.

Briefing the media on the PM’s visit, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said one of the key components that will be prominently showcased will be bilateral defence cooperation. “The second key component has been a strong trade and investment partnership. Third is the technology component, which has interfaces with many other domains: telecom, space, manufacturing, and investment,” Kwatra said. 

‘Milestone visit’

Modi’s visit starts in New York on June 21, where he will lead yoga sessions on the International Day of Yoga celebrations at the United Nations headquarters and also meet some leading personalities. The following day, the PM has formal high-level engagements in Washington, which would start with a ceremonial welcome at the White House and a meeting with President Joe Biden. He will also address the US Congress. Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host a State dinner in honour of Modi the same evening. On June 23, one-on-one interaction with select CEOs has been fixed. Thereafter, PM will be hosted by US Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony J Blinken.

The Foreign Secretary described the visit as a “milestone” in the Indo-US relationship.

Defence deals

“The two leaders are likely to reinforce the target of increasing bilateral trade to $500 billion while fast-tracking crucial defence deals,” another official pointed out.

Two major defence deals, including one for the acquisition of 31 predator drones (SeaGuardian for the tri-services—Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force) at a cost of $3 billion and the other for the co-production of GE engines that will power Tejas Mk-II fighter jets, are likely to be inked, the official added.

The US will also reduce regulatory bans that have been holding back technology transfer and co-development opportunities, as NSA Jake Sullivan shared with the media during his recently concluded trip to Delhi to formalise the structure of bilateral talks in Washington.

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A Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap was expected to be one of the key outcomes of the visit, Kwatra said.

“It essentially focuses on all aspects of defence co-production and co-development. It also talks about how defence industrial ecosystems of the two countries could cooperate much better and how the supply lines in the field of defence industry could also interface with each other much better,” he said.

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