US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo discussed key areas of shared interests including the Indo-Pacific region in her meetings with the top Indian leadership including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, reported PTI.
Raimondo in her meeting with NSA Doval talked about India-US commercial relationship and "opportunities to deepen the linkages between our economies," according to the Department of Commerce.
The Department said, "They concurred on the importance of the inaugural meeting of the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology." Talks were also focused on the upcoming US-India CEO Forum and US-India Commercial Dialogue meetings which are aimed to facilitate increased cooperation between both governments and business communities across a range of sectors.
Raimondo with all the Indian leaders discussed the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) and the opportunities it presents to deepen regional economic integration and enhance individual and collective economic competitiveness, reported PTI.
Raimondo spoke with Jaishankar about US-India relations and possible opportunities for further economic cooperation. Both ministers had a productive discussion about the India-US strategic partnership and ongoing efforts to deepen the economic and commercial engagement between the two countries including through the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), said the government in a statement.
The talks also focused on the need to address the need for increased bilateral strategic and high technology trade, given the shared priorities of both countries in building resilient and trusted global supply chains.
Raimondo met her counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday to discuss India's G20 priorities and bilateral cooperation to further boost investment and trade. The topics of discussion between them were the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), semiconductors, and supply chain resilience, as per the Department of Commerce.
Raimondo thanked Sitharaman for India's early involvement, ongoing support of IPEF, and close collaboration with the minister to produce tangible results through IPEF.
Raimondo also met with Dharmendra Pradhan, the minister of education, skill development, and entrepreneurship, and they spoke about the IPEF, specifically the IPEF Upskilling Program, and skill development projects in India. According to the press release, "The two discussed how the IPEF Upskilling Initiative is a concrete example of the types of economic benefits to IPEF Partners that will be available through the Framework and the potential for future cooperation."
In her meeting with Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Raimondo discussed topics crucial to US-India trade relations, such as cooperation in the semiconductor industry, the digital economy and data flow, Open RAN, and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF).
Towards the end of the discussion, they talked about how crucial it is for the United States and the 13 other IPEF partners to collaborate to make policies that would create more resilient secure supply chains, at the same time it will also accelerate the progress.
Raimondo is in India for the India-US Commercial Dialogue and India-US CEO Forum meet to discuss cooperation in various sectors that could unlock new trade and investment opportunities between the two countries, according to both sides.