India-US Joint Statement during the Visit of Prime Minister to USA
(Edited
Extracts)
The leaders welcomed the significant progress made in
bilateral relations between India and the United States during their tenure, in
accordance with the roadmaps set out in the Joint Statements issued during
Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the United States in
September 2014 and President Obama’s visit to India in January 2015.
The
two Governments have taken in the last two years through the U.S.-India Contact
Group, including by addressing the nuclear liability issue, inter alia, through
India’s ratification of the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for
Nuclear Damage, s, the leaders welcomed the start of preparatory work on site
in India for six AP 1000 reactors to be built by Westinghouse and noted the
intention of India and the U.S. Export-Import Bank to work together toward a
competitive financing package for the project. Once completed, the project would
be among the largest of its kind, fulfilling the promise of the U.S.-India
civil nuclear agreement and demonstrating a shared commitment to meet India’s
growing energy needs while reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Both sides
welcomed the announcement by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd, and
Westinghouse that engineering and site design work will begin immediately and
the two sides will work toward finalizing the contractual arrangements by June
2017.
The leaders reiterated their commitment to pursue low
greenhouse gas emission development strategies in the pre-2020 period and to
develop long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies. In
addition, the two countries resolved to work to adopt an HFC amendment in 2016
with increased financial support from donor countries to the Multilateral Fund
to help developing countries with implementation, and an ambitious phasedown
schedule, under the Montreal Protocol pursuant to the Dubai Pathway. The
leaders resolved to work together at the upcoming International Civil Aviation
Organization Assembly to reach a successful outcome to address greenhouse gas
emissions from international aviation. Further, the two countries will pursue
under the leadership of the G20 strong outcomes to promote improved heavy-duty
vehicle standards and efficiency in accordance with their national priorities
and capabilities.
Reflecting Prime Minister Modi’s
call to embrace wildlife conservation as a development imperative, the leaders
welcomed the signing of an MOU to enhance cooperation on Wildlife Conservation
and Combating Wildlife Trafficking.
The
United States supports the Government of India’s ambitious national goals to
install 175 GW of renewable power which includes 100 GW from solar power.
The United States welcomes the launch of the International
Solar Alliance (ISA), recognizes the critical role it can play in the
development and deployment of solar power, and intends pursuing membership in
the ISA. To this end, and to strengthen ISA together, the United States and
India will jointly launch the third Initiative of the ISA which will focus on
off-grid solar for energy access at the Founding Conference of ISA in
September, 2016 in India. The United States also remains committed, with other
developed countries, to the goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion per year by
2020 to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful
mitigation and adaptation action.
The United States is committed to bring to bear its technical
capacity, resources and private sector, and is jointly launching with India new
efforts, to spur greater investment in India’s renewable energy sector,
including efforts that can serve as a model for other ISA Member Countries. In
particular, the United States and India today are announcing: the creation of a
$20 million U.S. - India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF) initiative, equally
supported by the United States and India, which is expected to mobilize up to
$400 million to provide clean and renewable electricity to up to 1 million
households by 2020; a commitment to establish the U.S.-India Clean Energy Hub
as the coordinating mechanism to focus United States Government efforts that,
in partnership with leading Indian financial institutions, will increase
renewable energy investment in India; a $40 million U.S.-India Catalytic Solar
Finance Program, equally supported by the United States and India, that, by
providing needed liquidity to smaller-scale renewable energy investments,
particularly in poorer, rural villages that are not connected to the grid,
could mobilize up to $1 billion of projects; the expansion of handholding
support to Indian utilities that are scaling up rooftop solar and continuation
of successful cooperation with USAID on “Greening the Grid”.
The United States and India also remain committed to the
goals of Mission Innovation, which they jointly launched during COP-21 in Paris
to double their respective clean energy research and development (R&D)
investment in five years. Toward this end, the two leaders reaffirmed their
commitment to cooperate on research and development, including through the
announcement of an upcoming $30 million public-private research effort in smart
grid and grid storage.
Recalling their shared commitment to preventing proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, the leaders looked
forward to India’s imminent entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime.
President Obama welcomed India’s application to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group
(NSG), and re-affirmed that India is ready for membership. The United States
called on NSG Participating Governments to support India’s application when it
comes up at the NSG Plenary later this month. The United States also
re-affirmed its support for India’s early membership of the Australia Group and
Wassenaar Arrangement.
The
leaders applauded the completion of a roadmap for cooperation under the 2015
U.S.-India Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region,
which will serve as a guide for collaboration in the years to come. They
resolved that the United States and India should look to each other as priority
partners in the Asia Pacific and the Indian Ocean region.
They welcomed the inaugural meeting of the Maritime Security
Dialogue. Owing to mutual interest in maritime security and maritime domain
awareness, the leaders welcomed the conclusion of a technical arrangement for
sharing of maritime “White Shipping” information.
The leaders affirmed their support for U.S.-India cooperation
in promoting maritime security. They reiterated the importance they attach to
ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight and exploitation of resources as
per international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea, and settlement of territorial disputes by peaceful means.
Noting
that the U.S.-India defense relationship can be an
anchor of stability, and given the increasingly strengthened cooperation in defense, the United States hereby recognizes India as a
Major Defense Partner. As such:
• The United States will
continue to work toward facilitating technology sharing with India to a level
commensurate with that of its closest allies and partners. The leaders reached
an understanding under which India would receive license-free access to a
wide range of dual-use technologies in conjunction with steps that India
has committed to take to advance its export control objectives.
• In support of India’s Make
in India initiative, and to support the development of robust defense industries and their integration into the global
supply chain, the United States will continue to facilitate the export of goods
and technologies, consistent with U.S. law, for projects, programs and joint
ventures in support of official U.S.-India defense
cooperation.
The leaders also committed to enhance cooperation in support
of the Government of India’s Make in India Initiative and expand the
co-production and co-development of technologies under the Defense
Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI). They welcomed the establishment of new
DTTI working groups to include agreed items covering Naval Systems, Air
Systems, and other Weapons Systems. The leaders announced the finalization of
the text of an Information Exchange Annex under the Joint Working Group on
Aircraft Carrier Technology Cooperation.
President Obama thanked Prime Minister Modi
for his government’s support for the Defense POW/MIA
Accounting Agency (DPAA) missions in India, including a recovery mission that
resulted in the recent repatriation of remains of the United States Service
Members missing since the Second World War. The leaders announced their
commitment to future DPAAý missions.
As space faring nations, India and the United States
acknowledge that outer space should be an ever expanding frontier of human
endeavour, and look forward to deepening their cooperation on earth
observation, Mars exploration, space education and manned space flight. The
leaders welcomed the progress toward establishment of an ISRO-NASA Heliophysics Working Group as well as toward finalization
of a Memorandum of Understanding for exchange of earth observation satellite
data.
The leaders emphasized that cyberspace enables economic
growth and development, and reaffirmed their commitment to an open,
interoperable, secure, and reliable Internet, underpinned by the multistakeholder model of Internet governance. They committed
to deepen cooperation on cybersecurity and welcomed the understanding reached
to finalize the Framework for the U.S.-India Cyber Relationship in the near
term. They committed to enhance cyber collaboration on critical infrastructure,
cybercrime, and malicious cyber activity by state and non-state actors,
capacity building, and cybersecurity research and development, and to continue
discussions on all aspects of trade in technology and related services,
including market access. They have committed to continue dialogue and
engagement in Internet governance fora, including in ICANN, IGF and other
venues, and to support active participation by all stakeholders of the two
countries in these fora. The leaders committed to promote stability in
cyberspace based on the applicability of international law including the United
Nations Charter, the promotion of voluntary norms of responsible state behavior during peacetime, and the development and
implementation of practical confidence building measures between states.
In this context, they affirmed their commitment to the
voluntary norms that no country should conduct or knowingly support online
activity that intentionally damages critical infrastructure or otherwise
impairs the use of it to provide services to the public; that no country should
conduct or knowingly support activity intended to prevent national computer
security incident response teams from responding to cyber incidents, or use its
own teams to enable online activity that is intended to do harm; that every
country should cooperate, consistent with its domestic law and international
obligations, with requests for assistance from other states in mitigating
malicious cyber activity emanating from its territory; and that no country
should conduct or knowingly support ICT-enabled theft of intellectual property,
including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the
intent of providing competitive advantages to its companies or commercial
sectors.
The
leaders highlighted the strong and expanding economic relationship between the
United States and India and committed to support sustainable, inclusive, and
robust economic growth, and common efforts to stimulate consumer demand, job
creation, skill development and innovation in their respective countries.
In order to substantially increase bilateral trade, they
pledged to explore new opportunities to break down barriers to the movement of
goods and services, and support deeper integration into global supply chains,
thereby creating jobs and generating prosperity in both economies. They look
forward to the second annual Strategic and Commercial Dialogue in India
later this year to identify concrete steps in this regard. They also commended
the increased engagement on trade and investment issues under the Trade
Policy Forum (TPF) and encouraged substantive results for the next TPF
later this year. They welcomed the engagement of U.S. private sector companies
in India’s Smart City program.
The leaders applauded the strong bonds of friendship between
the 1.5 billion peoples of India and the United States that have provided a
solid foundation for a flourishing bilateral partnership, noting that two-way
travel for tourism, business, and education has seen unprecedented growth,
including more than one million travelers from
India to the United States in 2015, and similar number from the United
States to India.The leaders resolved to facilitate
greater movement of professionals, investors and business travelers,
students, and exchange visitors between their countries to enhance
people-to-people contact as well as their economic and technological
partnership. To this end, they welcomed the signing of an MOU for
Development of an International Expedited Traveler
Initiative (also known as the Global Entry Program) and resolved to
complete within the next three months the procedures for India’s entry into the
Global Entry Program.
The leaders recognized the fruitful exchanges in August 2015
and June 2016 on the elements required in both countries to pursue a U.S.-India
Totalization Agreement and resolved to continue
discussions later this year.
Recognizing the importance of fostering an enabling
environment for innovation and empowering entrepreneurs, the United States welcomes
India’s hosting of the 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit
The leaders welcomed the enhanced engagement on
intellectual property rights under the High Level Working Group on
Intellectual Property and reaffirmed their commitment to use this dialogue to
continue to make concrete progress on IPR issues by working to enhance
bilateral cooperation among the drivers of innovation and creativity in both
countries.
The United States welcomes India’s interest in joining the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, as India is a dynamic part of the Asian
economy.
The
leaders affirmed their nations’ mutual support in exploring the most
fundamental principles of science as embodied in the arrangement reached to
cooperate on building a Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory
(LIGO) in India in the near future and welcomed the formation of the
India-U.S. Joint Oversight Group to facilitate agency coordination of funding
and oversight of the project.
The leaders look forward to India’s participation at the
September 2016 Our Ocean Conference in Washington, D.C. as well as
holding of the first India-U.S. Oceans Dialogue later this year, to
strengthen cooperation in marine science, ocean energy, managing and protecting
ocean biodiversity, marine pollution, and sustainable use of ocean resources.
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the Global
Health Security Agenda and the timely implementation of its objectives. The
Prime Minister noted India’s role on the Steering Group and its leadership in
the areas of anti-microbial resistance and immunization. The President noted
the United States’ commitment to support, undergo, and share a Joint External
Evaluation in collaboration with the World Health Organization.
The leaders recognized the global threat posed by multi-drug-resistant
tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and committed to continue collaboration in the area
of tuberculosis and to share respective best practices.
The leaders noted the growing threat of non-communicable
diseases and the urgent need to address the risk factors by, inter alia,
promoting healthy lifestyles, controlling sugar and salt intake, promoting
physical activity especially among children and youth and strengthening efforts
to curb tobacco use. The leaders also reiterated the importance of holistic
approaches to health and wellness, and of promoting the potential benefits of
holistic approaches by synergizing modern and traditional systems of medicine,
including Yoga.
The leaders strongly endorsed expansion of the Indo-U.S.
Vaccine Action Program, which is fostering public-private research
partnerships focused on the development and evaluation of vaccines to prevent
tuberculosis, dengue, chikungunya and other globally
important infectious diseases.
The leaders reaffirmed their support for a reformed UN
Security Council with India as a permanent member. Both sides committed to
ensuring that the Security Council continues to play an effective role in
maintaining international peace and security as envisioned in the UN Charter.
The leaders are committed to continued engagement on Security Council reform in
the UN Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on Security Council Reform.
The leaders announced that the United States and India will
be Travel and Tourism Partner Countries for 2017, and committed to facilitate
visas for each other’s nationals.