India, US to sign new defence framework, says Trump admin official

Washington DC [US], February 13 (ANI): India and the United States will be signing a new defence framework during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ongoing visit to the US, which will give a further fillip to the partnership between the two countries, a senior White House administration official said on Thursday.
"Today's meetings with PM Modi and his government will build up on the accomplishments of the last Trump administration and the two leaders will focus on key areas of defence, trade, energy infrastructure, regional partnerships. Relating to build on defence sales to India, to ensure they are prioritising the use of American technology, the President is also focussed on unleashing American energy to the rest of the world and will prioritise India as the key importer of America's natural resources to power their economy," the US official said.
Ahead of Prime Minister Modi's meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House today, the White House official said that the two sides are also having conversations about new procurements which will help in reducing US' trade deficit with India.
"The defence portion of the partnership is strong, and my anticipation will continue to get stronger under this administration...Indians were our first United States major defence partner. I can tell you we are moving towards signing a new defence framework between the United States and India which will portend good things for the partnership," the White House official told reporters.
"Yes, we're having conversations with them about a number of new procurements which will add to the relationship and also bring down the trade deficit. I can confirm those talks are ongoing and are moving in a positive direction," the official added.
Prime Minister Modi, who is on a two-day visit to the US, is set to hold bilateral meetings with US President Donald Trump and other prominent American personalities.
The Prime Minister's schedule includes meetings with the US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Indian-origin entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Asked on the trade relationship between the two countries, a White House official said the "early body language" from the Indian government has been well received by the Trump administration and the today's meeting between PM Modi and President Trump will give further momentum towards a more "solidified fair" trade arrangement.
"With respect to trade, there's been some early body language from the Government of India that has been well received by the Trump administration. They're early but modest steps. to do. I anticipate what you'll see coming out of a meeting today is further momentum towards a solidified fair, and I emphasize that we're fair, bilateral trade arrangement between our two dynamic and growing economies and the hope would be to have such a deal in place in the calendar year 2025," the official said.
He also affirmed that announcements will also be seen in the area of technology, adding that semiconductors, critical minerals and supply chain resilience are some of the key areas for the two nations.
"Technology is an important partnership on critical technologies way in some of the most important technologies of the future. I expect that collaboration will continue with this administration and you will see some announcements to that effect today," the Trump administration official further said.
He added, "Some of the key areas, semiconductors, critical minerals, supply chain resilience and diversification, those are good things for our economy and the president certainly believes that too."
Notably, this is PM Modi's first visit to the United States after Donald Trump assumed office for the second term.
Upon arrival in the US, PM Modi said that he looked forward to meeting with US President Donald Trump and building upon the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.
In his departure statement, ahead of his US visit PM Modi noted that the visit will be an opportunity to build on the successes of collaboration in his first term and develop an agenda to further elevate and deepen the partnership between the two nations. (ANI)