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Strategic engagement: The new mantra of Indo US ties

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Washington: As India and US redefine their ties, US Secretary of State John Kerry and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj co-chaired the first India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue that ended with the important takeaway of a joint statement on combating terrorism, reinforcing commercial ties and securing access to US inward investment and technology.

The sides have pledged to work together to promote the responsible management and rules-based resolution of conflicts in shared maritime and space domains, and cyberspace.

They reflected on their shared commitment to peaceful use of the oceans, freedom of navigation, and protection of the ocean ecosystem. They agreed to explore a new Oceans Dialogue to promote sustainable development of the blue economy.

These ties aren’t just limited to land and water. Assessing their outer space cooperation, the sides noted the launch of a new Space Security Dialogue in March 2015, the exchange of technical data from both countries’ national Mars orbiters, and upcoming Civil Space Joint Working Group in Bangalore. The U.S. side applauded India’s proposal to launch a satellite for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

There was a great deal of appreciation for India as the U.S. commended India’s leadership in evacuating foreign nationals including U.S. citizens, from conflict in Yemen, as well as cooperation between the United States and India on providing earthquake relief in Nepal.

The Indo-US ties will be strengthened by intense engagement under various institutional bilateral dialogue mechanisms and people-to-people contacts.India’s announcement to hold a regional Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD) in Los Angeles in November 2015 was appreciated. In fact, there is unprecedented strategic cooperation, record levels of bilateral trade and investment, and more than 2 million annual visits between their citizens, students, and entrepreneurs.

India and the US committed to enhance cooperation in peacekeeping capacity building in third countries with a focus on training aspects for UN peacekeepers, especially in identified African countries. In this regard, the first ministerial meeting of the India-United States-Japan trilateral would convene on the margins of the UN General Assembly in September 2015. They also welcomed Japan’s participation in the MALABAR 2015 naval exercise later this year. As a part of enhancing global peace, there will be high level consultations on Afghanistan, making clear the enduring commitment of India and United States to the Afghan people.

The U.S also affirmed its support for India’s membership in the Missile Technology Control Regime at its upcoming plenary, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and in the other global nonproliferation export control regimes. It also reaffirmed its support for a reformed UN Security Council with India as a permanent member.

Both the nations expressed support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached among the P5+1, the European Union, and Iran.

There was a new Diplomacy Partnership between the Department of State and the Ministry of External Affairs which will include a new Policy Planning Dialogue and coordination on the training of their diplomats through collaboration between respective Foreign Service Institutes. There would be new High Level Consultations led by the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and India’s Foreign Secretary.

They agreed to improve cooperation among technical, law enforcement, cyber R&D, and capacity building. The Sides commended the resumption of the U.S.-India Cyber Dialogue.
In terms of boosting economic ties, both sides agreed to facilitate an innovation forum in 2016, a platform for U.S. and Indian entrepreneurs to share best practices in promoting a culture of innovation and the creation of sister innovation hubs. They launched a joint work stream on Ease of Doing Business. They agreed to continue exchanges of information and best practices on cross- border trade, and to continue commercial law-related initiatives on issues like insolvency and contract enforcement, and transparency.

They acknowledged the discussions on Totalisation held in August 2015 in Baltimore and welcomed the exchange of information on their respective social security systems. In fact, a private sector-led collaboration between the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to maintain and update a portal containing standards information for the use of industry, including small- and medium-sized enterprises was announced . The Sides will facilitate exchanges on Technical Textiles between centres of excellence in India and U.S. universities. They will encourage industry to participate in trade exhibitions focused on Technical Textiles in their respective countries

Both India and US welcomed the start of Smart City master planning activities in Vizag led by a U.S. private sector consortium. India welcomed a Smart Cities Infrastructure Business Development Mission in February 2016 led by the Deputy Secretary of Commerce.

Responding to India’s request for support in developing evaluation techniques for Massive Open Online Courses and Distance Education Courses, the United States agreed to facilitate discussions with U.S. industry experts specializing in this subject. The U.S. affirmed that it stands ready to assist in India’s ambitious goal of providing skills training to 400 million people over the next decade. In anticipation of the next Higher Education Dialogue, the U.S. side intends to create new programs to build capacity for curriculum and teacher development.

On the health sector, was agreed that both sides will work together to consider signing a MoU in the field of Mental Health and a MoU between the Ministry of AYUSH and HHS on collaboration in various aspects of Traditional Medicine, including regulatory and capacity building.

They looked forward to an early visit of Indian Minister of Defence Parrikar to the United States to deepen discussions on military exercises, defense trade and technology, and areas of cooperation.

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