Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US has been extremely rich in form and equally, if not more, rich in substance,” and the trip was “path-breaking,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said. The substantive outcome of his talks with President Joe Biden was co-operation in technology in all the domains including defence and space, he added.
Modi also discussed all pressing challenges confronting the global community with Biden and exchanged views on how India and the US could cooperate to mitigate, address and deal with terrorism comprehensively, Kwatra said in Washington during an interaction with the media.
Highlighting the takeaways from the visit, Kwatra said besides the reference in the US Congress to the challenge of terrorism, the prime minister said even after the two decades of 9/11 and a decade of 26/11, the problem of terrorism remains a pressing challenge for the global community.
He said Modi was clearly highlighting the need for “the international community to recognise that the people who sponsor terrorism, support terrorism, they continue to pose a serious challenge to the safety and security of our societies and have to be very sternly and firmly dealt with”.
He said when Prime Minister Modi and President Biden held their discussions, “all aspects of such global challenges were discussed between the two and how India and US could cooperate to mitigate, address and try and deal with this challenge as comprehensively as possible.”
“That was also discussed between the two leaders. And going forward, it would be our effort to see how some of those discussions can translate into concrete cooperative decisions between India and the US,” he said. In his address to the US Congress on Thursday, Modi said, “These ideologies keep taking new identities and forms, but their intentions are the same. Terrorism is an enemy of humanity and there can be no ifs or buts in dealing with it.
“We must overcome all such forces sponsoring and exporting terror” Kwatra also said technology cooperation featured prominently in the discussion between India and the US and described it as one of the most substantive outcomes of Prime Minister Modi’s visit.
“Very clearly, technology, in particular, advanced technology, across all domains ranging from defence to space and energy is one of the most important substantive outcomes,” he said.
“Technology featured in talks, not in a limited way but technology cooperation across the ecosystem. This included technology transfer, services and working together in research among other domains,” he added.
Kwatra said one theme which has run through the visit is the “exceptional warmth and hospitality” US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden extended to Modi.
“The visit has been extremely rich in form and equally, if not more, rich in substance,” he said, describing the trip as “path-breaking.” He referred to various deals, including in defence, to highlight the visit’s achievements.