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Arab News
23-02-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Trump, Modi and the new partnership
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington on Feb. 13-14 took place against the background of Donald Trump's threat to impose crippling duties on imports from India, in response to the $45.7 billion trade deficit in India's favor. To improve the atmosphere, before Modi's arrival, India announced steep reductions on selected items imported from the US. However, the atmosphere was seriously soured by US flights to India carrying Indian illegal immigrants in shackles. At the outset, Modi sought to revive the bonhomie and warm personal chemistry he had enjoyed with the president in his first term through a play on words, recalling Trump's slogan, MAGA, Modi said his own slogan was 'MIGA,' Make India Great Again, and pointed out that the merging of the two slogans led to 'MEGA — a mega opportunity for prosperity.' This play on words appears to have shaped the content of the joint statement, which indicates that relations between the two countries would be based on a series of acronyms that are unbeatable for their verbosity. The full range of bilateral cooperation will now take place within the rubric of the 'US-India COMPACT for the 21st century,' the acronym standing for 'Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce and Technology.' Defense industrial cooperation will be shaped by 'ASIA,' the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance, while technology cooperation will occur through 'TRUST,' which stands for Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology. Partnership in technological innovation, unsurprisingly, needs another acronym, 'INDUS Innovation,' which itself is modelled on the earlier 'INDUS-X' platform. Finally, trade will be promoted by the 'BTA,' the Bilateral Trade Agreement that the two countries will finalize later this year. The joint statement also sets out in minute detail every piece of military equipment the US has supplied India and what it hopes India will buy in the near future. It promises that Indo-US trade will, under Mission 500, go from $130 billion today to $500 billion by 2030. Energy cooperation will flourish so that the US emerges as 'a leading supplier of crude oil and petroleum products and LNG (liquefied natural gas),' even as India obtains US-designed nuclear reactors. In the defense area, the militaries of the two countries will march together 'in multilateral settings to advance global peace and security,' with a particularly 'close partnership' in the Indo-Pacific and in the Middle East. In respect of the latter, India and the US will convene partners from the India-Middle East-Europe-Economic Corridor and I2U2 (India, Israel, the UAE and the US) 'to announce new initiatives in 2025.' India's engagements with the US may be expected to be transactional, with the verbosity of the joint statement remaining delusional — full of sound and fury, signifying very little. Talmiz Ahmad Modi's visit has thrown up several positives for India. The US interest in expanding military sales to India has ensured that not only will India have access to state-of-the-art military equipment and technologies, it will also gain expertise through domestic production in selected areas. Similarly, the US could emerge as a major partner for India in the diverse areas of technology as well as the exploration, development and use of critical minerals. India will also benefit by obtaining technology for light-water nuclear reactors that now dominate the global nuclear scene. However, trade is likely to remain a contentious issue between the two countries; the target of $500 billion for bilateral trade by 2030 can be achieved only if India, regardless of price, commits itself to buying American military equipment, energy resources and technology, and denies itself access to other competitive sources. This will impose an unacceptable burden on India and will need a firm pushback. The visit also revealed some important areas of concern for India. The language of the joint statement is generally one-sided and appears to place India as a junior partner in support of US strategic interests. This is reflected in references to US interests in the Indo-Pacific and even the Indian Ocean that are obviously directed at confronting China in these spaces. Given that India shares 3,200 km of undefined border with China, it hardly suits Indian interests to be part of a US-led military coalition directed at China. Similarly, the joint statement refers to the Middle East in language that takes no account of India's commitment to strategic autonomy. Specifically, while India has close ties with Israel, it continues to uphold the need for a 'two-state solution' to address Palestinian aspirations. Now, given the deep divide in Arab and Israeli positions after Gaza, India can hardly associate itself with the US in convening a meeting of the IMEEC partner states this year. Above all, India is well aware of the frequent changes in US policy approaches, and the influence of extraneous elements on its policymaking. To this we must add Trump's unpredictability, his propensity for grandstanding, and his lack of interest in pursuing a longer-term vision — all of which make the US an extremely unreliable partner. This is most recently in evidence with regard to Ukraine and the exclusion of European countries from discussions relating to their own security. Thus, India's engagements with the US may be expected to be transactional, with the verbosity of the joint statement remaining delusional — full of sound and fury, signifying very little.
Times of Oman
14-02-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
India, US unveil key technology and space initiatives in Modi-Trump meet
Washington DC: India and the US launched major initiatives following a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump at the White House, focusing on advancing cooperation in emerging technologies, AI, and civil space. Key announcements include the US-India TRUST initiative, a roadmap for AI infrastructure, and the INDUS Innovation platform to foster partnerships in defence, space, and energy. According to the official statement, the leaders announced the launch of the U.S.-India TRUST ("Transforming the Relationship Utilising Strategic Technology") initiative, which will catalyse government-to-government, academia, and private sector collaboration to promote the application of critical and emerging technologies in areas such as defence, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, biotechnology, energy, and space, while encouraging the use of verified technology vendors and ensuring the protection of sensitive technologies. This initiative will see the private industries of both countries put forward a US-India Roadmap on Accelerating AI Infrastructure by the end of the year. This roadmap will identify constraints related to financing, building, powering, and connecting large-scale American-origin AI infrastructure in India, with milestones and future actions. The two countries will also enable industry partnerships and investments in next-generation data centres, cooperation on the development and access to computing and processors for AI, innovations in AI models, and building AI applications to solve societal challenges, while addressing the protections and controls necessary to safeguard these technologies and reduce regulatory barriers. In another significant development, the two leaders announced the launch of INDUS Innovation, a new innovation bridge modelled after the successful INDUS-X platform, that will advance industry and academic partnerships and foster investments in space, energy, and other emerging technologies to maintain India and US leadership in innovation and to meet the needs of the 21st century. The leaders also reinforced their commitment to the INDUS-X initiative, which facilities partnerships between U.S. and Indian defense companies, investors and universities to produce critical capability for our militaries, and welcomed the next summit in 2025. The statement noted that the leaders also committed, as part of the TRUST initiative, to build trusted and resilient supply chains, including for semiconductors, critical minerals, advanced materials and pharmaceuticals. As part of this effort, the leaders plan to encourage public and private investments to expand Indian manufacturing capacity, including in the US, for active pharmaceutical ingredients for critical medicines. These investments will create good jobs, diversify vital supply chains, and reduce the risk of life-saving drug shortages in both the United States and India. Recognising the importance of critical minerals for emerging technologies and advanced manufacturing, India and the US will accelerate collaboration in research and development and promote investment across the entire critical mineral value chain, as well as through the Mineral Security Partnership, of which both the United States and India are members. The two countries have committed to intensifying efforts to deepen with respect to several aspects of technologies of critical minerals and the leaders announced the launch of the Strategic Mineral Recovery initiative, a new US-India program to recover and process critical minerals (including lithium, cobalt, and rare earths) from heavy industries like aluminum, coal mining and oil and gas. The statement further noted that the leaders hailed 2025 as a pioneering year for US-India civil space cooperation, with plans for a NASA-ISRO effort through AXIOM to bring the first Indian astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS), and early launch of the joint "NISAR" mission, the first of its kind to systematically map changes to the Earth's surface using dual radars. The leaders called for more collaboration in space exploration, including on long duration human spaceflight missions, spaceflight safety and sharing of expertise and professional exchanges in emerging areas, including planetary protection. The leaders committed to further commercial space collaboration through industry engagements in conventional and emerging areas, such as connectivity, advanced spaceflight, satellite and space launch systems, space sustainability, space tourism and advanced space manufacturing. The statement also underlined that the leaders underscored the value of deepening ties between the US and Indian scientific research communities, announcing a new partnership between the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Indian Anusandhan National Research Foundation in researching critical and emerging technologies. This partnership builds on ongoing collaboration between the US National Science Foundation and several Indian science agencies to enable joint research in the areas of semiconductors, connected vehicles, machine learning, next-generation telecommunications, intelligent transportation systems, and future biomanufacturing. The leaders determined that their governments would redouble efforts to address export controls, enhance high-technology commerce, and reduce barriers to technology transfer between the two countries, while ensuring technology security. The leaders also resolved to work together to counter the common challenge of unfair practices in export controls by third parties seeking to exploit the overconcentration of critical supply chains, the statement noted.
Associated Press
29-01-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
USISPF Appoints Google's Chief Technologist Prabhakar Raghavan to Board of Directors
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 28, 2025) - The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) proudly announces the appointment of Prabhakar Raghavan, Chief Technologist at Google, to its Board of Directors. As the first board member named in 2025, Raghavan joins an elite roster of industry leaders shaping USISPF's mission to advance collaboration between the United States and India in critical technology and innovation sectors. Prabhakar Raghavan Chief Technologist at Google LLC Prabhakar is one of the foremost authorities on Search and is the co-author of two widely used graduate texts on algorithms and search. He has over two decades of research spanning algorithms, web search, and databases, has published over 100 papers in various fields, and holds 20 issued patents, including several on link analysis for web search. Welcoming Prabhakar to the USISPF Board, Dr. Mukesh Aghi, USISPF President and CEO said: 'The relationship between the United States and India is at a pivotal stage where synergy in fields of the initiative for Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) and subsequently with the India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X), are driving the relationship forward and touch heavily on the role of critical tech in AI in both the private sector and next-generation defense technology. In Prabhakar, we have a tech leader who can help with India's digital transformation as Google's ongoing investments in India's digital infrastructure, including the launch of cloud regions in Mumbai and Delhi, demonstrate Google's commitment to the country's digital growth. The critical aspect over the next decade will be to leverage the digital trade economy to enhance the commercial partnership between the United States and India. Prabhakar's vision and insight will be key to this mission.' USISPF Chairman John Chambers congratulated Prabhakar and said: 'Having spent the majority of my career in Silicon Valley, I understand the pivotal role of tech companies in countries' overall growth and innovation, especially as we go through this next-generation tech transition with AI. As Prime Minister Modi shared during his 2023 state visit, AI is not just artificial intelligence, but America and India - and the opportunity that comes from our two countries leading this transition together. As such, the addition of Prabhakar to the USISPF Board of Directors is a strategic and exciting step in furthering our joint position in the global AI race. I look forward to seeing how his Board presence will bolster USISPF's efforts to increase AI collaboration between governments and businesses.' Prabhakar joined Google in 2012 and prior to his role as the company's Chief Technologist, was most recently the SVP for Knowledge & Information (K&I) responsible for Google's Search, Ads, Commerce, Geo, Assistant & Gemini products. Prabhakar Raghavan expressed gratitude about his appointment and said: 'I'm incredibly honored to join the USISPF Board of Directors and contribute to its mission of strengthening the US-India relationship. India is remarkably positioned in the global technology landscape, not just as a nation of over a billion people, but also as the birthplace of population-scale digital platforms such as UPI, which have benefited its citizens and moved the tech discourse forward. Google is deeply invested in India's digital future, powered by the opportunities of AI, and I'm eager to work alongside fellow board members to further advance this vital partnership.' Prior to leading Google K&I, Prabhakar led the Ads & Commerce teams and also served as the vice President of Workspace in Google Cloud. Before joining Google, Prabhakar founded and led Yahoo! Labs. He also served as CTO at Verity and was at IBM Research for 14 years. For media inquiries and further information, please contact: Ankit Jain [email protected] Akshobh Giridharadas [email protected] About USISPF The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum's (USISPF) mission is to build, enable, advocate, and facilitate partnerships between the United States and India by providing a platform for all stakeholders to come together in new ways that will create meaningful opportunities with the power to change the lives of citizens in both countries. Press Inquiries USISPF Ankit Jain 2244607900 2550 M St NW Washington, DC 20037, USA
