WORLD NEWS | US Commerce Department meets top Indian leaders to discuss key areas of mutual interest

WASHINGTON, March 10 (PTI) — U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with India’s top officials including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. Key areas of mutual interest, including the Indo-Pacific region, were discussed when the leaders met.

According to the Commerce Department, Raimondo discussed U.S.-India commercial relations and “opportunities to deepen ties between our economies” during the meeting with Doval.

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“They agreed on the importance of the inaugural meeting of the U.S.-India Critical and Emerging Technology Initiative,” the commerce ministry said, adding that they also discussed the upcoming U.S.-India CEO Forum and U.S.-India Business Dialogue meetings, which will help promote cooperation between the two governments. The business community has strengthened cooperation in various fields.

Raimondo discussed with all Indian leaders the Indo-Pacific Economic Prosperity Framework (IPEF) and the opportunities it presents for deepening regional economic integration and enhancing individual and collective economic competitiveness.

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During his meeting with Jaishankar, Raimondo discussed US-India relations and opportunities for further economic cooperation. The Secretary of State emphasized the importance of the U.S.-India bilateral relationship to the Biden Administration and the Department of Commerce, including ongoing cooperation and the potential for closer commercial ties through the U.S.-India Chief Executives Forum (CEO Forum) and the U.S.-India Business Dialogue.

The two countries agreed to launch a US-India Strategic Trade Dialogue to address export controls, explore ways to enhance high-tech trade, and facilitate technology transfer between the countries. She thanked India for its continued support for the Indo-Pacific Economic Prosperity Framework (IPEF) and raised the importance of the framework in enhancing the economic competitiveness of the US, India and other IPEF partners, a media release said.

During her meeting with Sitharaman, discussions included the Indo-Pacific Economic Prosperity Framework (IPEF), semiconductors and supply chain resilience, the Commerce Department said.

Raimondo thanked India for its early engagement and continued support to IPEF and thanked her for working closely with the Minister to achieve concrete results through IPEF.

During a meeting with Minister of Education and Skills Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan, Raimondo discussed IPEF, including the IPEF Upskilling Programme, and India’s skills development programme. “The two discussed how the IPEF Skills Upgrading Program could be a concrete example of the types of economic benefits that IPEF partners can gain through the framework and the potential for future collaboration,” a media release said.

During his meeting with Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Raimondo discussed issues important to US-India commercial relations, including semiconductor cooperation, digital economy and data flows, Open RAN and the Indo-Pacific Economic Prosperity Framework (IPEF), a media release said .

“The two discussed the importance of the United States and the 13 other IPEF partners working on policies to create more resilient and secure supply chains, accelerating progress.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)