CUTS International Washington DC Center
Monthly Brief #63, June 2023
From an Era of Mistrust to Deep Trust: PM Modi’s State Visit to the U.S.
 
India and the U.S., having the strength to find solutions to the global geopolitical challenges, have put behind their hesitations of the past and are moving towards a period of trusted partnership as witnessed during the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the U.S. This trip along with announcements of many big-ticket items has escalated the two countries’ partnership with a road map to deepen the relationship on strategic and economic issues.
 
By addressing the joint session of the U.S. Congress, Modi becomes the first Indian leader to do so twice. More importantly, he is the third political leader to have spoken to the U.S. Congress twice, joining the august company of Nelson Mandela and Winston Churchill.
 
During this visit, U.S. President Joe Biden said that the relationship between India and the U.S. is “one of the most defining relationships” in the 21st century. I would like to add here, that this deepening and evolving partnership has emerged as one of the most consequential developments in the 21st century. And the U.S. has a major role to play in India’s road to becoming a developed country by 2047.
 
To cover the build-up to this historic visit, the broad-ranging discussions during the visit and the outcomes which finally emerged, CUTS came up with a series of Occasional News Wraps (ONWs), highlighting news items and expert analyses of this landmark visit. These can be viewed here: Taking India-U.S. Ties to the Next Level; Historic Visit Underway – PM Modi in the U.S., and From Buyer-Seller to Co-Production: The Way Forward.
 
Additionally, we have also organised two webinars with distinguished speakers to facilitate meaningful dialogues to understand broader perspectives of the India-U.S. trade and strategic relationship in the context of this State Visit. In case you missed them, please look up here: Ties that Bind: The India-U.S. Relationship in 2023 and Working Together to Promote Trade Multilateralism. 
 
This visit marks an inflexion point in bilateral ties and a significant milestone for India's foreign policy as the two countries have signed several major deals to elevate their strategic partnership.
 
Furthermore, India also decided to join the Artemis Accords, which advance a common vision of space exploration for the benefit of all humankind.
 
The USG sending a “clear signal” to the American private sector to invest in India in various sectors which have remained out of bounds thus far.
 
As we look ahead, it is time to deliver on the promises made in the joint statement, take measures to follow up and prepare for further high-level diplomacy, especially with President Biden’s travel to India for the upcoming G20 summit in September.
      
Pradeep S. Mehta
Editor

P.S.: Should India leverage PM’s upcoming visit to France to enhance collaboration with the European Union, and how would this visit shape India’s strategic alliance?
 
Message for our Readers
This is the sixty-third edition of the Monthly Brief from the Center, which carries select published news or comments on a relevant issue. There are equally important issues which may have been missed out to keep the Monthly Brief short and swiftly readable.
 
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India, U.S. agree to end six trade disputes at WTO; Delhi to remove retaliatory customs duties
India and the U.S. have agreed to end six trade disputes at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) while New Delhi will also remove retaliatory customs duties on 28 American products such as almonds, walnuts, and apples, according to an official statement. This comes amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi's State Visit to the U.S. at the invitation of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.

India and U.S. launch strategic trade dialogue
Ahead of the historic U.S. visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two countries have launched a Strategic Trade Dialogue during which officials reviewed the ongoing cooperation in multilateral export control regimes and agreed to share the best practices to further the bilateral ties. At the inaugural India-U.S. Strategic Trade Dialogue (IUSSTD), the Indian delegation was led by Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra.

U.S. needs to bring in trade liberalisation as part of IPEF
The U.S. wants to conclude negotiations on all pillars by the end of 2023. However, India has been reluctant to join the trade pillar. India has joined the other three pillars of supply chains, clean economy, and fair economy. The U.S. launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) in 2022. On the trade pillar, India’s reservation is that it does not have any room for negotiation of liberalisation on the trade front.

Despite policy headwinds, India-U.S. trade potential large and growing: Richard Rossow
Trade and business are on the upswing, only that India and U.S. both have to break some barriers that will cement a thriving business partnership. While India needs to remove the logistics and policy impediments, the U.S. needs to recognise that some of the jobs will have to be created in India, says Richard M. Rossow, a top India-U.S. trade analyst and Senior Adviser in Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS).

 

India, U.S. sign MoU to strengthen clean energy cooperation
Aiming to clean the environment, India and U.S. have signed an agreement under which the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will support Indian Railways to achieve its target of becoming a net-zero carbon emitter by 2030. In addition, the Joe Biden administration will facilitate the deployment of 10,000 made-in-India electric buses on Indian roads and work closely to develop small-scale modular nuclear reactors not only for operations within India but also to export.

U.S. Energy Secretary to visit IOC’s sustainable aviation fuel facility in July
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M Granholm is scheduled to visit Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) upcoming Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) manufacturing facility in July, 2023. The MoU with the U.S.-based sustainable fuels producer, signed during the India Energy Week in February this year, will explore producing SAF in India. The partnership aims to pursue large-capacity SAF production using Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) technology.
 
Wind energy could support India’s decarbonisation journey
June 15 is recognised as Global Wind Day, and with transitioning to cleaner forms of energy taking centre stage the world over, this is a good time to pause and reflect on India’s own journey in harnessing this renewable resource, and to look at the role wind power will play in the country’s future. While India has made great strides in deploying solar power nationwide and achieving global success, another renewable resource wind has not witnessed a similar growth path in the past few years.

Energy shift: India only major economy moving ahead in all aspects
India the only major economy that is “making advances on all aspects of energy transition,” the World Economic Forum (WEF) said in a report, even as the country still ranked a lowly 67 among 120 countries in terms of the progress in the transition. The momentum of transition, which is key to the country meeting the multilateral carbon reduction goals, is “accelerating across the Energy Transition Index’s (ETI) equitable, secure and sustainable dimensions,” the WEF said.

 

India-U.S. relationship is a defining strategic partnership
India-U.S. relationship is a defining strategic partnership (Paywall) and an evolving one, and not transactional said Pradeep S. Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS International at a webinar on U.S. India relations organised to generate inputs for both the governments in the context of the upcoming visit of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to the U.S.

QUAD Summit on G7 sidelines
Hiroshima, Japan hosts the G7 Summit from May 19-21, 2023. Other than common economic agenda, they addressed political and global challenges such as climate change, terrorism, and peace and security. On the sidelines of the G7 summit, the third in-person QUAD Leaders’ Meeting also took place. It evolved around nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation among, other strategic issues. India is believed to be the host for the next QUAD Leaders’ Summit in 2024. This edition of CUTS ONW collates news, op-eds and commentaries on these two summits held in Hiroshima.

Cooperation on de-radicalisation strategies to be on top of India’s agenda for SCO Summit
Cooperation on de-radicalisation strategies will be the highlight of India's deliverables for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit (Paywall) to be held under its presidency on July 4, 2023. India, as the host of the summit, will also push for inclusive connectivity agreements - International North South Transport Corridor and Chabahar Port - even as China will harp on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Catalyst for Global Defence Collaboration: Dr Vivek Lall’s role in advancing the adoption of Predator drones
Dr Vivek Lall, an esteemed aerospace scientist, has played a pivotal role in enhancing the defence trade and cooperation between India and the U.S. His influential efforts have strengthened the bond between the defence industries of both nations, allowing India to acquire advanced defence technologies from the U.S. He is leading negotiations for the acquisition of 31 MQ-9B Predator drones from General Atomics, a deal valued at US$3 billion. His advocacy for India’s defence modernisation endeavours has emphasised the importance of collaborative ventures in advanced defence technologies.

 

India can play key role in technological areas identified as critical by QUAD nations, says head of QUAD Investors Network
India has a lot of opportunities due to its talent base and its ability to stand up as a second big manufacturing base outside of China and can play a leading role in technological areas being identified as critical by QUAD nations. Karl Mehta, Chairman of the QUAD Investment Network (QUIN), along with Alex Trueman, the network's special advisor, is in Washington DC for meetings with the Biden administration officials following the recent QUAD Summit in Japan and ahead of the official State Visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the U.S.

The case for an India-U.S. tech handshake
The contours of a strategically important ‘tech handshake’ (Paywall) between India and the U.S. are now visible. Once firmed up, this could be a big turning point in a partnership that has made giant strides in the past two decades, but struggled to optimise outcomes. Often, tactical posturing, desire to show political distance from one other, has deterred practical progress. But the ground has shifted, making this handshake an imperative to counter China.

India and the U.S. can together make tech more accessible to all
The growing partnership between India and the U.S. has the potential to shape both the global technology landscape (Paywall) and 21st-century geopolitics. The two democracies must ensure that technological advances work toward a more secure and prosperous world. There is already momentum: The U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), announced last year, made strides to strengthen the connections between the U.S. and Indian innovation ecosystems.
 
India-U.S. to deepen cooperation in top defence technologies
National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin met in New Delhi and exchanged ideas on several issues of mutual interest. The two leaders highlighted the cooperation in specific niche technologies in maritime, military, and aerospace domains to boost capabilities. The two also discussed the greater transfer of technology, to India from the U.S., co-production, and building indigenous capacities between the two nations in line with India’s Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiatives.

 

India, U.S. share set of common values grounded in our democratic traditions
The U.S. Department of Commerce is committed to advancing U.S. commercial ties and this growing economic partnership between India and U.S. is possible as the two nations share a set of common values that “are grounded in our democratic traditions,” Pamela Phan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia at the U.S. Department of Commerce, said.

Sanjaya Baru | Modi's Mission America: The dragon in the room
Two high-level interactions between the U.S. and two major Asian nations will be remembered for some time as marking a new low in America’s global standing. First, the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing and, in particular, his submissive manner in the imperious presence of China’s President Xi Jinping. One of the odd things about the Indian demand on the U.S. government for increased visas is that it in fact facilitates the “brain drain” out of India with little reverse flow from the U.S. to India.

Two great friends: India, U.S. to shape global order
In a grand display of the growing strategic partnership and deep people-to-people convergence between India and the U.S., on the south lawns of the White House packed with 7,000 Indians and Indian-Americans, U.S. President Joe Biden accorded a ceremonial state welcome to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 22, 2023 and said the “two great friends and two great powers" will define the 21st century.
 
India-U.S. relations: How Narendra Modi has put New Delhi-Washington ties on a rapid upward trajectory
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be embarking on his eighth visit to the U.S. on 20 June, 2023. It is a testament to the dynamism of this partnership and the critical importance that India attaches to its ties with the U.S. that over the last nine years since he assumed office, Prime Minister Modi has travelled most often to the U.S. Prime Minister Modi has been invited by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden for his first Official State Visit to the U.S. President Bill Clinton deserves full credit for launching the bilateral ties on an upward trajectory during his visit to India in March, 2000.