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India, US hold 1st meeting of Strategic Trade Dialogue ahead of PM’s visit
India and the US launched the Strategic Trade Dialogue in March during a visit to New Delhi by US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo
Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra co-chaired the first meeting of the India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue in Washington that reviewed cooperation on export controls for sensitive technologies and work to build diversified and resilient supply chains.
Kwatra’s visit to Washington with an Indian delegation is part of the preparations for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US later this month. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is expected to visit India next week as part of the ongoing preparatory meetings, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
India and the US launched the Strategic Trade Dialogue in March during a visit to New Delhi by US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo. The dialogue, led on the US side by the under-secretary of the Bureau of Industry and Security of the commerce department, is focused on aligning the export controls of the two countries, enhancing high-technology commerce, and facilitating technology transfers.
“The dialogue is a key mechanism to take forward the strategic technology and trade collaborations envisaged under the India-US initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET),” said a readout from the Indian side that was issued after the inaugural meeting on Tuesday.
The discussions focused on ways in which both governments can “facilitate the development and trade of technologies in critical domains” such as semiconductors, space, telecommunications, quantum computing, artificial intelligence (AI), defence, and bio-tech, the readout added.
Both sides reviewed relevant bilateral export control regulations in order to build and diversify resilient supply chains for such strategic technologies. They reviewed cooperation in multilateral export control regimes and agreed to share best practices.
The two sides further agreed to enhance awareness among industry, academia, and other stakeholders about export control regimes and acknowledged that the dialogue will be key to enabling co-production, co-development, and enhanced industrial collaborations.
Both sides also agreed to set up a regular monitoring group to review progress in deepening cooperation in high-tech trade and technology partnership.
While the Indian side was led by Kwatra, the US delegation was jointly headed by Alan Estevez, under-secretary for industry and security in the commerce department, and Victoria Nuland, under-secretary of state for political affairs in the state department.
The people cited above said Sullivan’s upcoming two-day visit, expected to begin on June 13, will be an opportunity to review work being done by the two countries through the iCET. Sullivan and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval launched iCET in Washington in January to hasten cooperation in critical and emerging technologies.
As part of the preparations for Modi’s visit, principal secretary PK Mishra travelled to the US last month and met with Nuland.
Modi is expected to begin his trip to the US in New York on June 21 by participating in celebrations to mark International Yoga Day. The formal state visit will commence on June 22, including a ceremonial welcome at the White House, an address to a joint session of the US Congress and a state banquet to be hosted by President Joe Biden. Modi is also expected to address a diaspora event in Washington.
