Blinken to address India Ideas Summit ahead of PM Modi’s US visit

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo will address the next week’s US-India Business Council’s 48th India Ideas Summit which promises to chart a “bold agenda” for economic ties between the two countries ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic state visit to Washington later this month.

The theme for this year’s summit, scheduled to take place at the US Chamber of Commerce headquarters in Washington, is ‘Trust, Resilience, and Growth’ and focuses on how these three organising principles underpin the US-India economic partnership across sectors.

The flagship event of the Council and the premier convention of government, industry, and thought leaders in the US-India Corridor, comes just a few days ahead of PM Modi’s visit to the United States.

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are scheduled to host PM Modi for an Official State Visit, which will include a state dinner on June 22.

Topics and themes of discussion at the India Ideas Summit will include the Indo-Pacific, the future of energy, digital economy and social development.

According to the USIBC, the participants will discuss US-India Partnership in the context of the G20, Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) and an increasingly dynamic and competitive strategic landscape.

As the world endures high fuel and commodity prices, they will also explore avenues for US-India cooperation to achieve energy security and transition.

At the same time, the key movers and shakers from across government and industry will have conversations on US-India tech convergence and frameworks, such as iCET, for growing and governing the digital economy.

Interestingly, an Indian delegation led by Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra was in Washington earlier this week for the inaugural meeting of the India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue (IUSSTD).

The dialogue on June 6 with the US delegation – which was co-led by Alan Estevez, Under Secretary for Industry and Security in the US Department of Commerce and Ambassador Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs in the US Department of State – is a major step towards of strengthening the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.

The talks focused on taking forward the strategic technology and trade collaborations envisaged under the India-US initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) and on ways in which both governments can facilitate the development and trade of technologies in critical domains such as semiconductors, space, telecom, quantum, AI, defence, biotech and others.

“Both sides reviewed the relevant bilateral export control regulations with the objective of building and diversifying resilient supply chains for these strategic technologies. They reviewed ongoing cooperation in multilateral export control regimes and agreed to share best practices,” said a statement issued by the Embassy of India in the US capital.

Both New Delhi and Washington acknowledge that such dialogue would be instrumental in enabling co-production, co-development and enhanced industrial collaborations in critical technologies.

They also agreed to set up a regular monitoring group that will review progress in deepening cooperation in the bilateral high-tech trade and technology partnership.

Conversations at India Ideas Summit are also expected to drive forward important technological developments and chart an agenda for the bilateral trade relationship, spotlighting shared strategic and economic interests.