Modi US Visit: ‘Predator drones must man Himalayas & trade touch $400 billion by 2026’
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, July 2: The high-octane US visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has delivered several headlines for closer cooperation in critical technology, defence, space, and manufacturing. While Modi hogged the limelight by signing marquee deals with US President Joe Biden, diplomatic community hopes that the intent inked should begin delivering not later than 2026.
“Three milestones may act as a test for the Indo-US relations. Firstly, the technology transfer in case of jet engines for Tejas fighter jets and Predator drones should begin rolling out in the next three years, which will help strengthen the line of control with China,” Rajiv Bhatia, former ambassador to Mexico and South Africa, told The Raisina Hills.
Incidentally, Tejas fighter jets now form India’s defence export basket, with Egypt and other nations being the buyers. India has set an ambitious target for defence export, and the jet deal with the US could bring the much needed anchor.
But India and the US are still far from achieving the stated bilateral trade target. Incidentally, the bilateral trade, between 2005 and 2015, accounting for almost 10 years of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, had seen growing by three times, from about $35 billion to over $107 billion.
“Bilateral trade continues to grow, reaching a record $107 billion dollars in 2015. This is more than three times bigger than it was only 10 years ago,” Richard Verma, the 24th US ambassador to India, had remarked while speaking at the Atlantic Council India-US Trade Initiative Workshop.
Bhatia recalled Verma’s roadmap for the bilateral trade to express hope that the milestone set by the American ambassador will be reached soon. “Former US ambassador to India Richard Verma had spoken of a $500 billion bilateral trade target by 2026, and we should hit at least a $400 billion mark by then,” added Bhatia.
Incidentally, Verma in his speech had lamented “in our ability to launch negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT). We have been on-again off-again for about 8 years in our pursuit of a treaty.” This found resonance with Jeff M. Smith, a strategic affairs commentator, who also said in a tweet during the Modi visit to the US that “even a limited bilateral trade and investment deal could set a positive template and pave the way for additional progress in the years ahead”.
“To date, the Biden administration has shown little interest in pursuing such a deal, instead working to involve India in its new but still amorphous Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF),” he stated in his tweet.
But while the White House was quick to berate the Indian trolls for browbeating Sabrina Siddiqui, the journalist with The Washington Post, for probing Modi on the minority right in India, the bilateral relations also need to survive the test of bipartisan political support.
“India-US relations should pass the test of the politico-diplomatic pillar. President Biden should work to strengthen and in the event of change in the government there the bipartisan support to ties with India should be seen,” Bhatia further told The Raisina Hills.
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