Telecom, Education, AI: India, US Set For Major Deliverables

The two sides will also discuss the importance of “openness and freedom”, values that have become more crucial as India and the US become trusted partners.

- Prashant Jha

The United States (US) and India are becoming “partners of first resort”, there is more common ground on even issues of divergence such as Russia’s war in Ukraine than assumed; the strategic and policy convergence between the two countries spans across the Indo-Pacific to West Asia; and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit will support and reinforce President Joe Biden’s vision of the two countries being among the closest nations in the world with actual substantive deliverables, people familiar with the discussions have said.

Giving a glimpse of the deliverables in the offing in the joint statement, those quoted above suggested that there will not just be a breakthrough on the GE F414 jet engine deal, but a range of other issues, including in telecom, semiconductors, mobility, civil-nuclear cooperation, trade, space, higher education, artificial intelligence, quantum, and counter-narcotics. There is a clear sense in both systems that the initiative on critical and emerging technologies (ICET), and the leadership of national security advisers Ajit Doval and Jake Sullivan, have helped drive the process in quick time.

The two sides will also discuss the importance of “openness and freedom”, values that have become more crucial as India and the US become trusted partners in critical sectors.

Strategic deliverables

Among the deliverables will be collaboration in helping set up a semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem in India. This will include Micron announcing a major investment in big assembly, testing and packaging manufacturing facility in Gujarat but, alongside, at least two other American companies will unveil a major initiative for workforce training, equipping thousands of Indian engineers with skills in the domain.