Modi-Trump meeting: What is ‘Mission 500’ announced by India and US?

On Thursday, prime minister Narendra Modi concluded a two-day visit to the United States.

India and the United States have set ‘Mission 500’ for bilateral trade, with prime minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump resolving to deepen the countries' trade relationship, during the former's two-day US visit, which concluded on Thursday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with U.S. President Donald Trump, at The White House in Washington, DC on Thursday.

PM Narendra Modi is among the first world leaders hosted by Donald Trump in the Republican leader's second term, which began on January 20.

What is India-US ‘Mission 500'?

Under the ambitious Mission 500, India and the United States will aim to more than double their total bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, according to a release from the Prime Minister's Office.

“The leaders resolved to expand trade and investment to make their citizens more prosperous, nations stronger, economies more innovative and supply chains more resilient. They resolved to deepen the US-India trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security and job creation,” the statement read.

Additionally, recognising the need for new, fair-trade terms to meet the ambitious goal, prime minister Modi and President Trump announced plans to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall 2025.

For the negotiations, the two leaders committed to designate senior representatives, who will also ensure that the bilateral trade relationship ‘fully reflects’ the aspirations of ‘COMPACT.’

Also announced during PM Modi's visit, COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce and Technology) is a new initiative to drive ‘transformative change across key pillars of cooperation’ between the nations.'

Meanwhile, to advance the proposed BTA, the US and India will take an ‘integrated approach’ to strengthen and deepen bilateral trade across the goods and services sector, and work towards increasing market access, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepening supply chain integration.