PM Modi's US visit: Next chapter of strategic partnership in focus

Higher bilateral engagement in emerging technologies across telecom, space, and manufacturing to be discussed

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi's upcoming state visit to the US will focus on identifying the next step for a strategic partnership between the two nations.

“An important element of the visit will be a discussion on the bilateral relationship, the line of effort and objectives we set for ourselves in terms of looking at the next series of transformative ideas in the years ahead,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said in a press conference on Monday.

In that, the effort would be to build a network in which these new domains of partnership would be properly positioned, he added.

Technology is a key area of discussion in this regard as both countries look for higher bilateral engagement in areas such as telecommunications (telecom), space, and manufacturing, said Kwatra.

Modi will be on his first state visit to the US from June 20-24, at the invitation of US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. This will be the PM’s eighth overall visit to the US, and the second since Biden took office.

Officials told Business Standard that India would showcase its indigenously developed telecom stacks for 4G and 5G during the visit.

The government has offered the entire range of sophisticated Made-in-India 4G and 5G equipment and associated technologies to other nations and has marketed the technology extensively during the Group of Twenty (G20) discussions on the digital economy.

“The country has received enquiries from at least 15 global telecom companies as well as bilateral enquiries from nine nations,” a Department of Telecommunications official told Business Standard.

The stack has been tested for conducting 10 million simultaneous calls so far.

Defence and trade

Greater defence industrial cooperation will be in special focus during the PM’s visit, as part of a larger focus on bilateral defence ties. A new element of discussion during this visit and a road map for greater industrial partnership is expected to be created following this visit.

“It will explore how the defence industry on both sides can partner closely, not just in the field of co-production and co-development, but also do it in a manner that the supply chains and industrial ecosystem on both sides in this field can talk to each other far more intensely,” said Kwatra.

US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin and National Secretary Advisor Jake Sullivan had both visited India in the past few months. Kwatra said the government was focused on leveraging the shared strength of both defence ecosystems to ensure more research and production opportunities in India.

Trade and investment will be the last area of discussion.

Kwatra said bilateral trade has touched $200 billion. Of this, merchandise trade stood at $128.8 billion as of 2022-23.

Modi will also discuss the inclusion of African nations and those from the Global South into the G20 grouping.

The visit will also see the first-ever address by an Indian PM to a joint sitting of the US Congress. Congressional leaders, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy and Speaker of the Senate Charles Schumer, had invited Modi.

Modi to meet Egypt’s India unit

On his way back from the US, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi will be in Egypt for two days from June 24. The first visit by an Indian PM to the North African country will see Modi meeting a select group of high-level ministers called the India unit.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had been the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in Delhi. After his return to Egypt, Sisi constituted the unit. It is focused on quickly expanding business and political engagement with India.

In the ensuing months, ministerial meetings with the country had picked up pace, with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visiting the country.

Egypt has also been invited as a special guest during the Group of Twenty meetings in India.

A ministerial-level delegation, led by the Chairperson of Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority, is currently in India.

The PM will visit the 11th-century Al-Hakim mosque in Egypt which was recently renovated by India’s Bohra Muslim community. Egypt’s Grand Mufti also visited India in May.

He will also pay tribute to the Indian soldiers who died fighting for Egypt during the First World War.