India, US hold strategic trade talks ahead of PM Narendra Modi's visit to Washington

Washington: India and the United States held the inaugural meeting of the India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue (IUSSTD) in Washington DC ahead of  Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US from June 21.

The IUSSTD focused 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, official said.

India and US have decided to enhance awareness among the industry, academia and other stakeholders about the export control regimes through workshops and other activities, officials informed.

The Indian delegation was led by Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra. The US delegation 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.

The dialogue is a key mechanism to take forwards the strategic technology and trade collaborations envisaged under the India-US initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET). Next week, the iCET will hold a high-level dialogue.

The two sides also reviewed the ongoing cooperation in multilateral export control regimes and agreed to share best practices.

Senior officials pointed out that the dialogue would be instrumental to enabling co-production, co-development and enhanced industrial collaborations in critical technologies.