Blitz Bureau
Prime Minister NarendraModi returned to New Delhi on February 14 after successfully concluding his two-nation visit to the United States and France. He met with President Donald Trump at the White House and discussed strategic India-US ties in various key areas.
“He is a great friend of mine. For a long time we’ve had a wonderful relationship,” Trump said as he greeted PM Modi in the Oval Office.
At a joint briefing after about four-hour long discussions, the two leaders addressed several key topics, including tariffs, the extradition of the 26/11 Mumbai attack accused TahawwurRana, illegal immigration and the Russia-Ukraine war.
President Trump also announced that the US is paving the way to provide India with F-35 fighter jets as part of increasing military supplies by “billions of dollars”. According to AIR News, the two leaders jointly launched the US-India COMPACT for the 21st century.
The COMPACT stands for Catalysing Opportunities in Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce, and Technology. In the area of trade and investment, the leaders launched Mission 500, aiming to more than double the total two-way trade to 500 billion dollars by 2030.
Prime Minister Modi and President Trump also announced plans to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial multi-sector bilateral trade agreement by the fall of 2025 toward advancing this process.
The leaders announced plans to finalise a new 10- year framework for the US-India major defence partnership in the 21st century. This is a framework that will run from 2025 to 2035 and is expected to be finalised later this year.
They also agreed to move forward on ongoing defence procurement negotiations for a number of platforms, including land and air systems, as well as co-production agreements.
India also asserted that it would follow a bilateral approach to resolve its border disputes with China after President Donald Trump offered to mediate an end to the “border skirmishes”.During the joint news conference, Trump noted that the skirmishes were quite violent – and that he would like to help.
“I look at India, I do see the skirmishes on the border, which are quite vicious, and I guess they continue to go on. If I could be of help, I’d love to help because that should be stopped. That’s been going on for a long time and it’s quite violent. It’s quite violent,” he said. As part of the US visit, PM Modi also met US intelligence chief TulsiGabbard, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and tech billionaire Elon Musk. During the first leg of his two-nation tour, PM Modi visited France, from February 10to 12, where he co-chaired the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, along with French President Emmanuel Macron.
