US invested significantly in expanding strategic partnership with India: Kurt Campbell

WASHINGTON: The United States has invested significantly in expanding its strategic partnership with India and is pursuing a robust agenda to deepen the bilateral cooperation, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell has said.

Addressing the ongoing India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) Summit in California on Monday, Campbell said successive administrations in Washington and New Delhi have invested time and political capital to bring the partnership to greater heights.

“But in the last year, I like to say, our partnership has reached 'escape velocity'," he said.

“The United States has invested significantly in expanding our strategic partnership with India, and we are pursuing a robust agenda to deepen cooperation for the rest of the year – not only diplomatically, but also through iCET ( initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology),” Campbell said.

The third edition of the two-day INDUS-X summit began on Monday. It is organised by the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) at Stanford University in California.

“Our defence establishments, research institutions, private industry, and startups possess a deep bench of talent and mutual thirst for innovation, which is why INDUS-X was designed to create the necessary ecosystem and partnerships for new ideas, research, and development to flourish,” the top American diplomat said.

Asserting that the two countries are "more closely aligned than ever before" today, Campbell said the US and India have pursued an "ambitious agenda" of summits, joint challenges, and exchanges in over a year since the launch of the INDUS-X.

INDUS-X, which stands for enhanced strategic and defence partnership between India and the US, was launched on June 21 last year by the US Department of Defence and the Indian Ministry of Defence during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington, DC.

"I expect these efforts will continue, given the deep bonds that tie our countries together and the strategic challenges we both face. INDUS-X is now, and will be, a cornerstone of our continuing efforts to advance the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology – iCET,” Campbell said.

The iCET was launched by Prime Minister Modi and US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the QUAD summit in Tokyo on May 24, 2022.

Observing that technological leadership is increasingly at the heart of the strategic competition, Campbell said it is the great differentiator in the US foreign policy approach.

“And India is in a very small group of countries with whom we work most intimately on tech. The iCET, which places technology at the very heart of the US-India partnership, has greatly accelerated our strategic cooperation," he said.

Talking about the second iCET meeting that took place between National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and his US counterpart Jake Sullivan in June, Cambell said it "showed the immense progress we are making across a range of sectors including space, semiconductors, advanced telecommunications, artificial intelligence, quantum, biotechnology, and clean energy".

"Deepening defence cooperation is also a key pillar of iCET,” said the top American diplomat.

“Our work together driving innovation and developing cutting-edge technologies will help us maintain a critical advantage for our armed forces. We've taken unprecedented steps to increase operational coordination, information sharing, and defence industrial cooperation, including co-production," he said.

"In fact, we’ve authorised an unprecedented level of technology transfer as part of the GE engine co-production arrangement, and our two governments have just finalised a Security of Supply Arrangement to reinforce our supply chain resilience,” he said.

Last year, GE Aerospace and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) inked a pact to jointly produce fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk-II — Tejas.

“Under INDUS-X, the US and Indian governments have also announced: awards of USD 1.2 million in seed funding to ten US and Indian companies under Joint IMPACT 1.0 Challenges; our intent to launch two additional joint challenges in other domains, including space; and the launch of a INDUSWERX Testing Consortium of industry, academia, and nonprofit organisations across the US and India to promote our companies’ access to testing and experimentation facilities,” Campbell said.