A greater defence and security cooperation between India and the U.S., and like-minded countries, is needed to foster peace, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.  India and the U.S. have a tremendous catalytic role to play in that direction. This doesn’t mean that India will be entering into any type of military alliance with the U.S. but to be close friends and to deal with threats to peace and prosperity in the region.

By signing of a bunch of defence  and security pacts including Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) and Maritime Information Sharing Technical Arrangement (MISTA) in the recently held third India-U.S. 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, the two countries are expanding their defence cooperation into newer areas of geo-spatial intelligence and maritime information sharing. 

This step has caused discomfort to China, the 1000lb gorilla in the room, because the main purpose of these steps is to counter China’s aggression and expansionist agenda in the region. 

BECA is the last of four foundational agreements on military cooperation between the two countries. The previous three were signed in 2002, 2016 and 2018 on areas, which included security and military information, logistics exchange and communications, compatibility and security, respectively. Furthermore, their plans to expand capacity-building efforts and joint cooperation activities are critical in putting meat on the bones of these four accords.

The nuances of these emerging ties in the India-U.S. Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership are also well-aligned with the interest of the Quadrilateral among Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. The Quad Ministerial in October this year has been helpful in shaping consensus to implement a flexible non-treaty defence and security cooperation for  peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific Region. 

Moreover, for a free, open, inclusive, peaceful, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region, the economic and development partnership tracks are equally important. With that, India and the U.S. need to steer together the implementation of greater economic, commercial and development linkages with like-minded countries and organisations mainly in South Asia and Southeast Asia. In that context, for example, the U.S. support for the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and the collaboration between USAID and Development Partnership Administration (DPA) of India with a view to undertake joint projects in the region will further promote regional economic development.

The third annual Indo-Pacific Business Forum held on 28-29 October in Hanoi underlined the importance of facilitating private sector participation that is critical for greater prosperity in the region.  Backed with their government efforts, it can foster not only fair market competition and job creation, but also greater economic and commercial linkages among countries in the region.

Put together, the bilateral partnership will not just help to achieve the economic development and security interests of all stakeholders of the region, but also the larger objective of free, open, inclusive, peaceful, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.