Praise For Ukraine Visit, Support For India’s UNSC Bid, Fab Plant Deal: Outcomes Of ‘Fruitful’ Biden-Modi Meet

US President Joe Biden commended Prime Minister Narendra Modi on visiting Ukraine in August during their meeting in the former’s home in Greenville, Delaware and thanked him for his humanitarian support for Ukraine.

“US President Joe Biden commended Prime Minister Modi for his historic visits to Poland and Ukraine, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in decades, and for his message of peace and ongoing humanitarian support for Ukraine,” the White House said after the end of the bilateral meeting.

He affirmed to Prime Minister Modi that the United States backs initiatives aimed at reforming global institutions to better reflect India’s significant role. This includes supporting India’s bid for permanent membership in a reformed United Nations Security Council.

“US President Biden shared with Prime Minister Modi that the United States supports initiatives to reform global institutions to reflect India’s important voice, including permanent membership for India in a reformed UN Security Council. The Leaders voiced their view that a closer US-India partnership is vital to the success of efforts to build a cleaner, inclusive, more secure, and more prosperous future for the planet,” the White House said in its readout of the bilateral meeting.

The White House also said that the US and India plan to elevate bilateral technical, financial and policy support to expand complementary manufacturing capacity for building on existing clean energy cooperation between the two nations.

Predator Drones

The White House said Biden welcomed the advancement of India’s procurement of 31 General Atomics MQ-9B drones, including 16 Sky Guardians and 15 Sea Guardians and said these would go on to enhance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of India’s armed forces across all domains.

Fab Deal

The leaders praised a landmark agreement to build a new semiconductor fabrication plant, focusing on advanced technologies for national security, telecommunications, and green energy. They unveiled a new forum, the US-India Advanced Materials R&D Forum, to expand research collaboration between American and Indian institutions.

To launch the partnership for establishing a “shared, resilient, and cutting-edge techno-industrial base” centred on innovative clean energy manufacturing techniques, the US and India are “working to unlock USD 1 billion in new multilateral finance through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) for projects, including catalysing India’s domestic clean energy supply chain buildout”, the White House said in a statement.

The partnership will look to expand complementary US and Indian manufacturing capacity for clean energy technologies and components and lay the groundwork for enhanced cooperation in third countries, with a focus on partnerships in Africa.

Both nations emphasised that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) aims to improve resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness among its signatories.

The US welcomed India’s signing and ratification of key agreements under Pillars III, IV, and the overarching IPEF Agreement.