India and US have inked a deal with the objective of
connecting both the countries’ dynamic startup ecosystems, particularly in
critical and emerging technologies or CET.
The understanding named ‘Enhancing Innovation
Ecosystems through an Innovation Handshake’ was signed by Union Commerce Minister
Piyush Goyal from the Indian side, who is on a 4-day US visit.
Piyush Goyal in a post on X said the agreement is
poised to positively impact – economic activity, attract investment, and
generate employment.
Minister Goyal held a bilateral meeting with his US
counterpart Gina Raimondo on the sidelines of the IPEF Ministerial Meeting and
discussed the growing India-US commercial cooperation and business engagement.
Besides, Piyush Goyal co-chaired the industry
roundtable titled – Decoding the Innovation Handshake: US-India
Entrepreneurship Partnership’ along with Raimondo.
CEOs of various Information Communication Technology
(ICT) companies, startups and investors in the critical and emerging technology
space discussed how to enhance US-India technology collaboration.
During his ongoing visit, India joined the United
States and 12 other Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF)
partners to ink the IPEF supply chain resilience agreement. Goyal said it will “fortify
and strengthen” global supply chains.
India and the US are among the 14 supply chain
resilience partners of IPEF along with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Fiji
Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
This global supply chain resilience agreement is seen
as a counter to reducing massive reliance on China, particularly after severe
supply disruptions after the Covid shock.
Under the proposed agreement, the IPEF partners seek
to provide a framework to build their collective understanding of significant
supply chain risks; and improve crisis coordination and response to supply
chain disruptions.
It will also seek to ensure that workers and
businesses, especially micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises benefit from
resilient, robust, and efficient supply chains; ensure the availability of a
sufficient number of skilled workers in critical sectors and key goods,
including by upskilling and reskilling workers, among others.
In a post on X, after the signing of the agreement, Goyal
said the first-of-its-kind international agreement will “fortify and strengthen”
global supply chains, and “foster adaptability, stability and sustainability.”
Goyal thanked his US counterpart Gina Raimondo for her
leadership and personal commitment to ensuring the “truly historic” moment
towards a more resilient future.
Earlier, in an interactive session held in San
Francisco as part of the first leg of the tour in US, the Union Minister held
wide-ranging discussions with the participants and highlighted the various
steps taken by the government of India to improve the ease of doing business.
He has so far held various bilateral meetings with his counterparts of various
countries.
“…highlighted how the country offers promising
opportunities for investors, thanks to the unique combination of our
demographic dividend, manufacturing capabilities & conducive business
environment,” Goyal posted on X, contending that India is an attractive
investment destination for the world.
The Commerce and Industry minister kicked off his US
official tour with a visit to the Tesla Factory Unit in Fremont and interacted
with the senior executives of the Tesla group.
In a post on X Goyal said the US electric car maker is
on its way to double its component imports from India.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk had in June this year said that he
was planning to visit India next year, adding that he was confident that the
electric carmaker will be in India and will do so “as soon as humanly possible.”
ANI
