New Delhi, (Asian independent) The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden has welcomed the signing of the Investment Incentive Agreement which enables the US Development Finance Corporation to continue providing investment support to India in sectors of shared priority such as healthcare, renewable energy, SMEs, infrastructure.
Prime Minister Modi had a warm and productive meeting with President Biden in Tokyo on Tuesday, resulting in substantive outcomes which will add depth and momentum to the bilateral partnership, it said.
The meeting marks a continuation of the regular high-level dialogue between the two leaders who met in-person in September 2021 in Washington D.C and interacted at the G20 and COP26 Summits thereafter. Most recently, they had a virtual interaction on April 11,2022.
The India-US Comprehensive Strategic Global Partnership is underpinned by a shared commitment to democratic values, rule of law, and a commitment to uphold a rule-based international order. The leaders expressed happiness with progress made across sectors in the bilateral agenda.
“Both sides launched an India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) to facilitate outcome-oriented cooperation. Co-led by the National Security Council Secretariat in India and the US National Security Council, iCET would forge closer linkages between government, academia and industry of the two countries in areas such as AI, quantum computing, 5G/6G, biotech, space and semiconductors,” the MEA said in a statement.
Noting that defence and security cooperation is a crucial pillar of the India-US bilateral agenda, both sides discussed how they can further strengthen collaboration. In this context, the Prime Minister invited the US industry to partner with India to manufacture in India under the Make in India and Aatma Nirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) programmes which can be of mutual benefit to both countries.
Taking forward their growing collaboration in the health sector, India and the US extended the longstanding Vaccine Action Programme (VAP) until 2027 to continue joint biomedical research which had resulted in development of vaccines and related technologies, the statement further reads.
The two leaders exchanged views on regional issues of mutual interest, including South Asia and in the Indo-Pacific region, reaffirming their shared vision for a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, while PM Modi welcomed the launch of Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) and stated that India is ready to work closely with all partner countries to shape a flexible, and inclusive IPEF taking into consideration the respective national circumstances.
They agreed to continue their useful dialogue and pursue their shared vision of taking the India-US partnership to a higher level, the MEA further said.
