India, US vow to strengthen tech, innovation ties
India could become a key supplier of electronic parts and hardware for the United States, US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo said on Friday after signing of an initial pact between the two countries to strengthen cooperation in the semiconductor sector to facilitate commercial opportunities and development of innovation ecosystems.
“We want to deepen our technology relationship with India,” Raimondo said after signing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi. She said India could become a supplier in the “entire electronics supply chain, not just semiconductors”.
The MoU between India and the US has been signed for establishing a semiconductor supply chain and innovation partnership under the framework of the India-US Commercial Dialogue, which was re-launched after a gap of three years.
“I want to be also clear… this isn’t about decoupling, what it is about is keeping eyes wide open to the fact that China is explicitly trying to get access to American technology to use in its military and we need to protect ourselves and our allies and partners from that happening,” Raimondo added.
The MoU seeks to establish a collaborative mechanism between the two governments on semiconductor supply chain resiliency and diversification, given the US’s CHIPS and Science Act, and India’s $10-billion Semiconductor Mission. The CHIPS and Science Act was signed by President Joe Biden in 2022 to boost funding for the American semiconductor industry.
India’s ambitions to expand its tech sector were “totally aligned with the United States’ desire and goal to make our supply chain more resilient,” Raimondo, who is leading a delegation including executives from 10 US companies, said.
During the meeting in New Delhi, Goyal and Raimondo acknowledged that the bilateral goods and services trade has almost doubled since 2014. Both sides welcomed further steps to enhance their commercial collaboration and tap into market potential across multiple sectors, and also enable an environment for investment by small and medium-sized industries (MSME) and startups.
At the end of the commercial dialogue, both sides announced the launch of a new Working Group on Talent, Innovation and Inclusive Growth.
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The move will further the cooperation on startups, SMEs, skill development and entrepreneurship, including in digital and emergent technologies, Goyal said.
Goyal also said the travel and tourism working group has been re-launched to address the new challenges and opportunities to create a stronger travel and tourism sector.
Both the countries also launched the standards and conformance cooperation programme (Phase III) to be carried out in partnership between ANSI (American National Standard Institute) from the US side and the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) from the Indian side, in furtherance of standards cooperation.
https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/india-us-vow-to-strengthen-tech-innovation-ties/3005383/
