The PM’s visit garnered US support against China and ensured tech transfer
Indian Prime Minister Modi and US President Joe Biden managed to fire the first gunshot for one of the most significant partnerships of the 21st century between the two countries, during the first state visit of Indian PM to Washington last week. The red carpet welcome events spruced with vegetarian meals prepared by celebrated chefs, Bollywood numbers playing in the background, thousands of Indian Americans lining up streets in Washington DC, and unique gift exchanges between the two countries were straight out of a big budget blockbuster hitting the screens, but with a sharp message of upgraded partnership.
The lengthy joint statement running into 58 paragraphs summed it up as “Taken together, the leaders today affirmed that this document, in its breadth and depth, represents the most expansive and comprehensive vision for progress in the history of our bilateral relationship. Still, our ambitions are to reach ever greater heights, and we commit both our governments and our peoples to this endeavour, now and into the future.” A large chunk of the blueprint for the future roadmap was dedicated to defining the contours of the technology embrace US and India will undertake, keeping in mind the current and future geopolitical environment. One of the most significant outcomes was India granted a seat to the US-led Minerals security partnership ( MSP).
The US launched MSP last year, bringing in 12 other countries and the European Union “to enable diversified private sector investment and catalyse public sector financing.” Indian private sector has already announced investments of $650 mn creating one of the largest such Indian investments in the US electric battery industry, creating nearly 500 jobs. However, the potential for this alliance is huge as all of these like-minded countries on board are expected to exchange information and push their private sectors to make investments into building reliable sustainable supply chains of critical minerals. Drones, mobile phones, electric cars, tablets and laptops and high-end defence equipment to name a few, are all dependent on these critical minerals. The MSP promises to be the solution by diversifying the supply chains across these 14 geographies.
The other major outcome of the state visit was India joining the US-led Artemis Accords. A fact sheet released by the White House summarised this as an effort to “advance a common vision of space exploration for the benefit of all humankind. India joins 26 other countries committed to peaceful, sustainable, and transparent cooperation that will enable exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. NASA will provide advanced training to Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) astronauts to launch a joint effort to the International Space Station in 2024.” Space is the next frontier of the India-US partnership, having been in silos till last week. The US has significant expertise in space launches and exploration, and granting India a seat in its wider alliance, signalled an equal partner status to India. India’s space explorations and technology so far are a fraction of what the US, China, and Russia spend, which is also reflected in the poor number of active Indian satellites hovering above us. The minister of science and technology Jitendra Singh summed up the importance of the Artemis Accords as “ paving the way for easing restrictions on import of critical technologies in the space domain, especially electronics benefitting Indian companies to develop systems and innovate for US markets.” The US-India partnership is daring to explore frontiers that none in both country have tried before.
(The writer is a policy analyst. The views expressed are personal)
