India, USA to hold ‘Strategic Trade Dialogue’ meeting in June

To expand multi-level engagement, India and US will hold the first “Strategic Trade Dialogue meeting from June 4, 2023, to June 5, 2023.

The main aim is to implement the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) outcomes by streamlining export control regimes, enhancing high-tech commerce and facilitating the “Transfer Of Technology” (TOT) between the two nations.

The Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra will be travelling to the United States of America early in June to meet the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, Alan Estevez, for the strategic trade dialogue meeting and do the last-minute preparations for PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the White House to meet American President Joe Biden.

The first iCET dialogue was signed on January 31, 2023, between the National Security Advisers of India and the USA. The strategic trade meeting was decided when US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo visited India on March 10, 2023.

PM Narendra Modi is expected to meet President Joe Biden from May 19, 2023, till May 21, 2023, during the G-7 Meeting in Japan, then during the QUAD Summit on May 24, 2023. They will also cross at Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG), on May 22, 2023. This will be a part of the critical engagement with the Far Pacific nations.

While the US is expected to open defence cooperation with PNG to counter the footprint of China’s security in the Solomon Islands next door, PM Narendra Modi will be extending an enormous line of credit worth $100 million to the island nation as a part of India’s comprehensive engagement with Far Pacific.

As a part of the Indo-US engagement, especially in the Indo-Pacific, Kwatra is expected to ensure that all hurdles under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (IAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR) are smoothened for American companies to engage in joint-production of high-tech systems, such as aircraft engines, munition technologies and weaponised armed drones in India.

As per diplomats based in Washington DC and New Delhi, the US is expected to clear General Electric’s application to develop F-414 jet engines in India jointly for the Tejas Mark-II before PM Modi visits the US.

The General Electric (GE), a major defence company in the US, is also speaking to ancillary partners in the European Union (EU) to shift manufacturing of F-414 engines to India.

Additionally, the US will provide armed drones to India to counter the Chinese weaponised drones menace in the Line Of Actual Control (LAC).

Apart from launching an innovation bridge which connects India and the US defence startups, India is also seeking US Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) technology for increased maritime domain awareness in the Indo-Pacific.

Besides that, both countries are actively collaborating to establish semiconductor-resilient supply chains in India with an eye on the PLA military threat to Taiwan and the semiconductor industry.