India, US launch trade dialogue on sidelines of Modi-Biden meet

Both the countries look to facilitate the development and trade of technologies in semiconductors, space, telecom, quantum, AI, and defence.

Ahead of the historic US visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two countries have launched a strategic trade dialogue here 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-US Strategic Trade Dialogue (IUSSTD), the Indian delegation was led by Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra. The US delegation was co-led by Alan Estevez, Under Secretary for Industry and Security in the US Department of Commerce and Ambassador Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs in the US Department of State.

The dialogue is a key mechanism to take forward the strategic technology and trade collaborations envisaged under the India-US initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET).

The meeting took place ahead of Prime Minister Modi's maiden state visit to the US at the invitation of President Joe Biden. Modi will be visiting the US from June 21 to 24.

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It focused on ways in which both governments can facilitate the development and trade of technologies in critical domains such as semiconductors, space, telecom, quantum, AI, defence, bio-tech and others, a media release from the Indian embassy here said.

During the meeting, the two sides reviewed the relevant bilateral export control regulations with the objective of building and diversifying resilient supply chains for these strategic technologies.

They reviewed ongoing cooperation in multilateral export control regimes and agreed to share the best practices. Both sides agreed to enhance awareness among the industry, academia and other stakeholders about the export control regimes through workshops and other activities.

"They acknowledged that the dialogue would be instrumental to enabling co-production, co-development and enhanced industrial collaborations in critical technologies,” the statement said.

“They agreed to set up a regular monitoring group which will review progress in deepening cooperation in the bilateral high-tech trade and technology partnership. The co-chairs agreed to continue the dialogue with the objective of strengthening the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership,” the statement said.