India’s Ambassador Vinay Kwatra met US Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly to review energy security and trade ties.
Officials said the long-pending bilateral trade agreement is “very near” conclusion, with five negotiation rounds done.
Kwatra also met Lockheed Martin’s CEO and Senator Bill Hagerty to discuss defence cooperation and Indo-Pacific challenges.
The India-US energy security partnership and recent developments in energy trade and ties were discussed between India’s Ambassador to Washington Vinay Mohan Kwatra and Deputy Secretary of Energy James Danly.
The meeting came in the backdrop of the proposed bilateral trade deal between India and the US, which, according to an official, is “very near” to concluding.
“We are very near as far as deal is concerned,” the official said on Friday.
Kwatra in a social media post on Saturday said he had a “fruitful discussion” with Danly on the “India-US energy security partnership and shared perspectives on recent developments in energy trade and ties”.
Kwatra also met with Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet. The ambassador said the two had a “productive discussion” on the India-US industrial cooperation and how US defence companies have a key role to play in New Delhi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ goals.
On Thursday, Kwatra hosted Republican Senator from Tennessee Bill Hagerty and his wife Chrissy Hagerty at his residence.
“Discussed various facets of our bilateral partnership, including continuing ongoing talks on a mutually beneficial trade deal,” Kwatra said in a post on X.
He added that they also explored ways to expand bilateral hydrocarbons trade and “working together to address shared challenges in the Indo-Pacific region”.
In February this year, leaders of the two countries directed officials to negotiate a proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).
They have fixed a deadline to conclude the first tranche of the pact by the fall (October-November) of 2025.
So far, five rounds of negotiations have been completed.
Last month, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal led an official delegation to New York for trade talks.
These deliberations are important as the relations between the two countries have been reeling under severe stress after the Trump administration imposed a steep 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods. It includes a 25 per cent additional import duty for buying Russian crude oil.
India has described these duties as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable".
