NEW DELHI, Apr 21: India and the US on Monday welcomed the “significant progress” in the negotiations for a mutually beneficial bilateral trade pact as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Vice President JD Vance held wide-ranging talks to enhance cooperation in areas of defence, energy and technologies.
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Modi hosted Vance, Indian-origin US Second Lady Usha Chilukuri and their three children Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel over dinner at his 7 Lok Kalyan Marg residence after the official talks.
PM Modi conveyed to Vance his warm greetings for President Donald Trump and said that he looked forward to his visit to India later this year.
The Prime Minister and the Vice President also exchanged views on various regional and global issues of mutual interest including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and called for “dialogue and diplomacy” as the way forward.
Vance and his family arrived in Delhi this morning on a four-day visit that came weeks after President Trump imposed and then paused a sweeping tariff regime against around 60 countries including India.
New Delhi and Washington are now holding negotiations to seal a bilateral trade agreement as agreed during Modi’s talks with Trump in Washington DC in February. The trade pact is expected to address a variety of issues including tariff and market access.
Prime Minister Modi and Vice President Vance “reviewed and positively assessed” the progress in various areas of bilateral cooperation, an Indian readout said.
“They welcomed the significant progress in the negotiations for a mutually beneficial India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) focused on the welfare of the people of the two countries,” it said.
“Likewise, they noted continued efforts towards enhancing cooperation in energy, defence, strategic technologies and other areas,” it said.
It is for the first time that the two sides publicly announced that there has been “significant progress” in the negotiations for the BTA first tranche of which is likely to be finalised by this fall.
A delegation of Indian negotiators are set to travel to the US on Wednesday to hold talks with American officials on the BTA.
“The Prime Minister fondly recalled his visit to Washington DC in February and his fruitful discussions with President Trump, which laid down the roadmap for close cooperation between India and the US, leveraging the strengths of Make America Great Again (MAGA) and Viksit Bharat 2047,” the Indian readout said.
It said Modi and Vance also “exchanged views on various regional and global issues of mutual interest, and called for dialogue and diplomacy as the way forward”. (PTI)
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