“Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austin, Dr. Jaishankar, Members of the Press, ladies and gentlemen, thank you to the Secretaries, their envoys, and their staff for their excellent cooperation and warm hospitality. I really appreciate their commitment to our bilateral relationship. Today, we have had a very meaningful and in-depth discussion. This will help maintain the momentum of India-US relations and advance our work. Our two great nations have mutual interests and a shared will to achieve common goals.
We have had discussions on a variety of national issues, defense and world affairs. It was gratifying to see that as the world’s largest democracies, we have differing opinions about most of them. Both India and the US share a common vision of a free, open, inclusive and based region based on Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean laws. Our cooperation is critical to peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean. The use of terrorism as a tool of state art against India came to prominence.
Defense and Artificial Intelligence
Our extensive collaboration produced significant results. Some of these include the finalization of the Environmental Awareness Agreement between the Department of Space Affairs from India and the US Department of Defense; initiating a defense and Artificial Intelligence negotiations soon; significant progress in other programs and agreements discussed; and a shared desire to increase the scope and complexity of our military trials.
Our military-to-military cooperation continued despite the challenges from the Epidemic. We are also pleased that India has joined the Bahrain-based multilateral Combined Maritime Force (CMF), as a partner. This will strengthen regional security cooperation in the West Indian Ocean. We are well on our way to launching COMCASA effectively, and to fully implement BECA.
India’s desire for cooperation:
Both sides agreed on the need to revitalize the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) through joint projects of advanced and emerging and critical military technology, so that they can be implemented quickly. production by US companies. We have called for an increase in investment by US defense companies in India under the ‘Make in India’ program. The involvement of American organizations in industrial cooperation and partnerships in research and development will be critical to the success of India’s ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ campaigns.
The 2 + 2 summit is crucial in strengthening the defense strategy cooperation between India and the US and will enable us to work together in many areas of interest in both. Our increased cooperation will be essential to maintaining peace and security, as well as ensuring free access to international agreements. I also thank Secretary Austin and Secretary Blinken for their hospitality and significant contribution to the development of India-US relations. We have invited two Secretaries to India at a regular time for the next 2 + 2 Ministerial meetings.
READ ALSO : New carbon capture materials bring new light on the global warming challenge
