US president, Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi held a virtual meeting differing their views on the Ukrainian war, on Monday.
Previously, Biden said that India’s stand was trembling, and the US official warned that the strategic alignment with Moscow will be significant and long term.
India stayed vigilant as the pressure was growing from the US. It continued the promotion to end the war. It used strong words to respect the sovereignty of both nations.
It followed the meeting format between Indian Foreign Minister, Jaishankar, Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh, and their parallel participants. Including, Antony Blinken, and Lloyd Austin from Washington.
Both the countries shared their willingness to understand their standpoint on Ukraine.
Pratyush Rao, director for South Asia at Control Risks consultancy, added, “This was a visible reaffirmation at the highest levels by both sides to the bilateral relationship, amidst all the media speculation about deepening strains over the Ukraine conflict. The message was, yes we do differ on Russia and will unlikely bridge the gap, but won’t allow it to derail wider co-operation in the Indo-Pacific either.”
PM Modi and his ministers stayed neutral regarding their take on Ukraine. While, Mr. Blinken said that India has to make its own approaches to serve the challenge.
While PM Modi and his ministers reaffirmed their stated policy of non-alignment on Ukraine, Mr. Biden and his ministers appeared more understanding of Delhi’s position – a marked shift from some earlier strong statements of Washington officials. Blinken said India “has to make its own decisions about how it approaches this challenge”. He also said, “India’s relationship with Russia has developed over decades at a time when the United States was not able to be a partner to India”.
He further added that times have changed and US wants to become a partner in each domain, concerning, commerce, tech, education, and security.
The two countries discussed the collaboration in trade, defense, and security sectors, apart from the topic of Ukraine.
According to US, India is a net provider of security in that region.
The countries negotiated on compensating China’s growing influence, since China has a disputed territory for India
Jaishankar acknowledged that Quad included, India, US, japan, and Australia. It emerged as a source for global good, and its “elevation benefits the entire Indo-Pacific.”
DEFENCE
Director added that entrusting in Quad was significant for the state.
Former Indian diplomat, Jitendra Nath Misra, said, “The US needs to give commitments on technology transfers to be able to get a bigger share of India’s defense imports.”
Defense Minister talked about inviting US defense companies to set up in India.
Blinken said that US was monitoring some recent developments in India, including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police, and prison officials.
The concern might cause disruption between the two.
TRADE & ENERGY
The United States has consistently grown its crude oil and refined petroleum product exports to India, accounting for 15% of the $113 billion in commerce between the two countries in 2021.
The two countries estimate that their bilateral trade might grow to $500 billion in the future. To boost trade ties, the two countries announced a number of initiatives, including the resumption of the US-India Commercial Dialogue and the US-India CEO Forum.
