In an important development on the strategic front, India and U.S. have finalised the roadmap of their joint strategic vision said Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar on Tuesday, adding that Washington recognises New Delhi as a "major defence partner".
"So, we are happy to inform you all that we have finalised that road map that's seen as an important step. And we finalised some agreements as well and one of them was the technical arrangement of what is called white shipping information and the other is the step which was taken was the finalisation of the LEMOA (The Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement), " he said.
Briefing the media about the meetings held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the U.S. President, the Foreign Secretary said that a notable development took place on the defence side.
"The notable development on the defence side was the willingness of the United States which was conveyed during the course of the meeting to recognise India as 'major defence partner'," he said.
"Now essentially that status of a 'major defence partner' really means that in terms of technology sharing and technology access we would be treated at a level similar to the closest allies and partners of the U.S. and that it sort of allows for better higher quality, faster technology access on the defence side and also more liberal access to the duel technology side," he added.
He said that India hopes that in dual technologies the country can move to a situation where there is a sort of licence-free access to wider segment of controlled dual technology.
He, however, stressed that India is looking for a framework that would allow 'Make in India' to happen in the defence side
"Today, I think the big challenge as we move into 'Make in India' on the defence side and the high technology side is we want a framework which would actually allow not just for sale or even sort of collaboration but we are really looking for a framework that would allow 'Make in India' to happen in the defence side which means you got to look at it in terms of a project," he said.
"So it's a much more integrated holistic view of how you transfer technology and make available access to it. So I think this in a sense is a transition that we are seeking to make and we do believe that today the talks were a big step in that direction ," he added.
While the discussion on the US-India Cyber Relationship was also held during the meeting, the Foreign Secretary hoped its framework near term.
He also said that on people to people interaction front, India was ready to open another consulate in Seattle.
The Foreign Secretary also said that terrorism was also the focus of the discussion and talks on deepening U.S.-India collaboration against terrorism were held.
