PM Modi Holds Bilateral Meeting With US President Biden, Joint Statement Mentions Drones Acquisition And Trade Disputes Resolution

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden on Friday on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit.

Biden arrived in Delhi earlier in the evening to attend the G20 Summit. The leaders summit of the Group of 20 (G-20) will mark the conclusion of the yearlong presidency of India of the grouping. 

Following the meeting, the joint statement issued by the White House mentioned the starting of the acquisition of armed drones from the United States, the commitment to increasing cooperation on planetary defence, and the resolution of all the outstanding India-US trade disputes at the World Trade Organization (WTO) among others. 

The meeting with Biden was Modi's third and final bilateral meeting for the day. Earlier on Friday, he held meetings with Prime Ministers Pravind Kumar Jugnauth of Mauritius and Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh.

Sharing photos of their meeting at the Prime Minister's Residence, Modi termed the meeting "very productive" and said the two leaders "were able to discuss numerous topics which will further economic and people-to-people linkages between India and USA".

This is Biden's first visit to India as the President of the United States. Earlier, he had visited India as Vice President during Barack Obama's presidency. 

After Biden landed at the Delhi airport, he was received by Minister of State for Civil Aviation General (Retired) VK Singh. From the airport, Biden drove to the hotel and, after a short stay there, travelled to the Prime Minister's Residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg for the bilateral meeting. 

Top US officials such as National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan, Deputy Chief of Staff Jen O'Malley Dillon, Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer, and NSC Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell are part of Biden's entourage who arrived in India with him in the presidential transport Air Force One.

Highlights of the joint statement

The highlights from the joint statement issued by the White House were the start of the process to acquire advacned armed drones from the United States and the resolution of the final trade dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO). 

"President Biden welcomed the issuance of a Letter of Request from the Ministry of Defence of India to procure 31 General Atomics MQ-9B (16 Sky Guardian and 15 Sea Guardian) remotely piloted aircraft and their associated equipment, which will enhance the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of India’s armed forces across all domains," said the joint statement. 

The joint statement also hailed the various aspects of India-US relationship, such as collaboration in multilateral organisations like the Quad and in sectors like space, technology, healthcare and medical research, trade and commerce, etc. 

Biden also hailed India's presidency of G-20 and reiterated support for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to India. 

"President Biden lauded India’s G20 Presidency for further demonstrating how the G20 as a forum is delivering important outcomes.  The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the G20 and expressed confidence that the outcomes of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi will advance the shared goals of accelerating sustainable development, bolstering multilateral cooperation, and building global consensus around inclusive economic policies to address our greatest common challenges, including fundamentally reshaping and scaling up multilateral development banks," said the statement. 

Biden and Modi also discussed issues related to climate change and nuclear energy and welcomed the consulations between the two sides over the development of next generation small modular reactor technologies in a collaborative manner, according to the joint statement.

The two leaders also discussed Quad in their meeting and India welcomed the US decision to co-lead the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative Pillar on Trade Connectivity and Maritime Transport. The Quad comprising India, United States, Australia, and Japan is a grouping committed to the free and open Indo-Pacific region. The grouping has acquired primacy for the members in the wake of Chinese military muscle-flexing and expansionism in recent years. 

The next Quad Summit is to be held in India in 2024 and the statement mentioned that "Modi looked forward to welcoming President Biden" next year.

On the defence front, the highlights were the progress made on the acquisition of drones and the the joint-development of jet engines. 

"The leaders welcomed completion of the Congressional Notification process on 29 August 2023 and the commencement of negotiations for a commercial agreement between GE Aerospace and Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) to manufacture GE F-414 jet engines in India, and recommitted to work collaboratively and expeditiously to support the advancement of this unprecedented co-production and technology transfer proposal," said the joint statement.

Biden also congratulated Modi and the scientists and engineers at the Indian Space Research Organisastion (ISRO) for the historic landing of Chandrayaan-3 in the South Pole region of the Moon. The joint statement also mentioend the India-US cooperation on joint human missions in space and planetary defence. 

"Determined to deepen our partnership in outer space exploration, ISRO and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have commenced discussions on modalities, capacity building, and training for mounting a joint effort to the International Space Station in 2024, and are continuing efforts to finalise a strategic framework for human space flight cooperation by the end of 2023," said the joint statement.

The statement also mentioned the collaboration for planetary defence, which includes tracking of asteroids and near-Earth objects and protection of Earth and assets in space from such objects.

Joint infrastructure pact in Middle East possible: Report

There are also signs that a new deal could be signed between the leaders of India, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and United States for a railway connectivity project in the Middle Eastern countries on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit, according to a report by Axios. The report said the if the deal materialises, a bilateral meeting could also take place between Biden and Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman. India has a key role in the proposed connectivity plan. 

As and when the relations between Israel and the Saudi Arabia are normalised, Israel could also join the plan, said the report, adding that Israel had floated the idea and India's expertise in such infrastructure projects was a key element.

"Israel raised the idea of connecting the region through railways during the I2U2 meetings over the last year. Part of the idea was to use India's expertise on such big infrastructure projects, one source said. The Biden administration then expanded on the idea to include Saudi Arabia's participation," said the report.

Ahead of arriving in India, Biden tweeted that the visit to India for G-20 Summit for would be focussed on "making progress on Americans' priorities, delivering for developing nations, and showing our commitment to the G20 as a forum that can deliver".

Separately, the White House said that Biden will "work with allies and partners to further strengthen the global economy" at the G-20 Summit.