New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Friday that defence was a mainstay of the India-US bilateral relationship, adding that he looked forward to working with America across other domains, including the Indo-Pacific.
The Defence Minister was speaking at the inauguration of the fifth India-US 2+2 dialogue in New Delhi, where he was joined by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and their American counterparts, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Also key to the discussions was the focus on a rules-based Indo-Pacific to promote a “free and open, prosperous, secure” region, where ministers highlighted the maritime cooperation through Quad (with Japan and Australia) and other plurilateral frameworks that India and the US were part of.
The India-US bilateral relationship has seen a growing convergence of strategic interest in defence, security and intelligence cooperation, said Singh.
“Defence remains one of the most important pillars of our bilateral relationship,” he said, telling Blinken and Austin that their visit to India came at a time “when India and the US are closer than ever before”. “In spite of various emerging geopolitical challenges, we need to keep our focus on the importance of a free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific region,” Singh said, adding that India looked forward to closely working with the US across the domains of defence for capability building.
Jaishankar meanwhile said, “we will undertake a comprehensive overview of crosscutting strategic, defence and security ties”. He said the two countries would work on technology, supply-chain collaborations and people-to-people exchange.
“Today, the bilateral trade between the two countries is in excess of 200 billion USD. A total of 2,70,000 students study in the US. India has a diaspora of 4.4 million in the US… We are exploring domains such as critical technologies, civil outer space collaboration and critical minerals even while consolidating established domains,” Jaishankar said.
Blinken and Austin too spoke of the “US-India partnership” in key areas and the need for the two countries to “find common goals and deliver for our people”.
‘Cause of peace and stability’
According to Jaishankar, India and the US were key members of the Quad, which is scheduled to meet at the leaders’ level early next year in India.
“Similarly, India and the US are also engaged in other plurilateral frameworks which reflect their strategic convergences such as the IPACC, I2U2 and the recently launched IMEC,” Jaishankar said. “In context of the ongoing global developments, I look forward to exchanging views about developments in West Asia and Ukraine among others.”
Drawing parallels between Indian and US in the current world order, Austin said the ministers were meeting at a time of “great momentum in the US and India partnership”.
“In the face of emerging global challenges, it is more important than ever for the world’s two largest democracies to exchange views, find common goals and deliver for our people,” he said.
The US defense secretary added that the two countries had made impressive gains in building a major defence partnership over the years, which would help the two countries contribute “to the cause of peace and stability”.
Both India and the US were increasingly integrating their industrial bases, he said, strengthening interoperability, and sharing “cutting-edge” technologies. “The scope of our cooperation stretches from seabed to space,” Austin said.
He pointed out that their diplomats, entrepreneurs and students were “expanding our partnership in new domains including clean energy, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors. Our increasingly strong ties give us all hope for the future of this partnership and for our common efforts towards a more secure world.”
According to Blinken, the two countries were promoting “free and open, prosperous, secure Indo-Pacific… by strengthening our partnership through the Quad with Japan and Australia, (and) by enhancing maritime domain awareness, sharing commercial satellite data with countries in the region to boost their capacity, for example to combat illegal fishing, piracy, drug trafficking”.
“We are also coordinating in the maritime relief and disaster response in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
Blinken further said that India and the US were actively cooperating on semiconductors and advanced biotechnology, clean energy and were carrying out joint research and exploration projects in space. The countries were partnering in international peace and security and specifically working towards rules-based order to uphold principles such as sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence, and defence cooperation, he said.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)