Biden, Modi Work to Deepen Ties in the Background of Russian Aggression
WASHINGTON, DC – President Joe Biden met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 24 in Tokyo to reaffirm their commitment to work together for a more prosperous, free, connected, and secure world. The leaders reviewed the progress made in the U.S.-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership. They committed to deepen their nations defense partnership, encourage economic engagement that benefits both countries, and expand partnership on global health, pandemic preparedness, and critical and emerging technologies.
The leaders discussed their shared belief in the urgent need to address climate change. They looked forward to enhancing their partnership to accelerate India’s just energy transition, including through the U.S.-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership, especially in the areas of renewables deployment, decarbonizing the energy and industrial sectors, zero-emissions vehicles, adaptation, and mobilizing related investment in India.
President Biden condemned Russia’s unjustifiable war against Ukraine while Modi refrained from doing so. The leaders’ committed to continue providing humanitarian assistance and discussed how to cooperate to manage disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine, in particular the rise in energy and food prices, to protect their respective citizens and the world, a White House handout said.
President Biden welcomed India’s role in the Summit for Democracy’s Year of Action and the two countries announced India’s joining the Combined Military Forces-Bahrain as an associate member.
They expressed pride in the achievements of the third Quad Leaders’ Summit and the growing strength of the Quad partnership. The leaders affirmed the outcomes of the U.S.-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue held on April 11 which made evident that the United States and India have a breadth of cooperation matched by few other partnerships. Proving that democracies can deliver for the global good:
They welcomed the launch of a United States–India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies, spearheaded by the National Security Councils of the two countries to expand partnership in critical and emerging technologies.
The U.S. plans to join six of India’s Technology Innovation Hubs to support at least 25 joint research projects in 2022 in areas such as artificial intelligence and data science to advance progress in applications such as agriculture, health and climate. The U.S. National Science Foundation and Department of Science and Technology of India will deepen this cooperation through the new U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology.
Both countries committed to expanding cooperation in new defense domains, including through space, cyber, and launching a dialogue on Artificial Intelligence this year.
