US - India Business Council (USIBC) has lauded the outcome of talks between US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and said the US leader's visit reflects the accelerating convergence between the world's oldest and largest democracies.
In a statement, USIBC President Atul Keshap said the two sides had concluded a roadmap for US-India Defence Industrial Cooperation. He said the discussions between the two sides reinforced the increasing importance the US government is placing on India as a major commercial and defence partner and talks continued on tech releasability issues between the two sides.
He said that the USIBC welcomes the Security of Supply Chain Agreement and a reciprocal defence procurement agreement and stressed that these were major calls from industry during the initial public-private consultations under the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) launched at the US Chamber of Commerce in January.
Delighted to meet my friend, @SecDef Austin in New Delhi. Our talks revolved around enhancing defence cooperation in several areas including convergence of strategic interests and enhanced security cooperation. pic.twitter.com/Lb98hRkNMj
— Rajnath Singh (मोदी का परिवार) (@rajnathsingh) June 5, 2023
Keshap said USIBC will host the inaugural Indus X conference on June 20, 21 in Washington. US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin concluded his India visit on Monday with both countries taking new steps to strengthen their defence partnership. During his meetings with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the US Secretary exchanged perspectives on a range of regional security issues.
