Strategic Trade Dialogue: India, US discuss dual-use export controls issue

India and the United States (US) on Friday discussed export control issues related to items of dual use, ahead of the first meeting of the US-India Strategic Trade Dialogue (USISTD) that is slated to be held in Washington DC next month.

During her visit to India, Thea Rozman Kendler, assistant secretary for export administration of US Department of Commerce, met Indian officials. Dual-use goods can be used for both civilian military applications. Countries often impose export controls on dual-use items as well as military goods over national security concerns.

Last month, both nations launched an initiative called the India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue, an official government-to-government arrangement to deepen the engagement around the area of aligning export controls and information sharing.

“As a passionate advocate for our strategic trade controls, we focus our common interest in secure trade. Export controls provide that foundation or building block to protect global peace and security while not unduly interfering with commercial commerce. India's accomplishments in the realm of strategic trade controls and high tech trade helps undergird our shared security objectives,” Kendler told reporters.

According to her, robust strategic trade controls enable both nations to share technology that can't be shared with other nations.

Apart from that, there were roundtable discussions with the Indian industry, such as Indian Electronics Semiconductor Association, the US-India Business Council, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), and the American Chamber of Commerce, Kendler told reporters.

The industry meetings aimed at learning about the tech ecosystem that India is fostering and the challenges that Indian companies face with respect to strategic trade. “We talked about mechanisms under the US strategic trade control system under our export control system available to Indian industry that are designed to facilitate faster and more efficient trade,” she said.

Kendler said since there are sanctions on Russia and Belarus, the US is looking at companies around the world being used by Russia to facilitate its ‘illicit procurement’. “The items that the 39 economies have cut off from export to Russia, they’re still trying to get them to use in their war machine. And we're particularly concerned about that. So we're working with partners all over the world to make sure that Russia isn't using them to backfill technology,” she added.