New Delhi [India], September 27 (ANI): Amid the quest for energy transition and ambitious net zero goals, India and the US are looking to collaborate in the fields of battery technologies and critical minerals, said Tarun Kapoor, the special advisor to the Prime Minister. He was speaking at the 20th Indo-US Economic Summit, organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC).
The theme of this year’s summit is ‘Sharing ideas & potential for a substantial partnership between India and the US for the next 25 years’. Addressing a session on infrastructure, road transport and highways, he noted that both countries are already collaborating to set up funds for renewable energy, and are also working on payment security mechanisms for electric buses.
“We have a good scope of collaboration even further in terms of getting more investments into the country, partnerships between companies in India and US companies particularly considering the technology play which is happing all over the world,” he said. “Batteries and critical minerals are two areas where we are looking forward to good collaboration because in order to secure our energy requirements we have to move from absolutely basics which means the materials that go into these minerals also need to be tied up which are so critical, lithium and others, they also need to be tied up for which we have discussions going on at present,” Kapoor added. Observing that India has witnessed rapid growth in terms of manufacturing in the electric vehicle space, he stressed that there is a need to set up good charging infrastructure in the country. “Public charging infrastructure is very essential. We have this plan of covering 22,000 petrol stations with charging infrastructure. In the next 2-3 years we will have very good charging infrastructure,” he said.
Further, with the need to set up charging infrastructure along national highways, he said that the sector would require a lot of investment. Throwing light on the government’s focus on improving the road infrastructure in the country, he said that India will have access to expressways in the range of 50 km to 100 km from any part of the country.
He said that currently 25 per cent of cargo movement is done through railways, and there is a target to take this to 40 per cent. Kapoor further said that given that Indian Railways has turned electric, it will eventually turn green with the complete greening of the power grid. “As far as roads are concerned, the efforts of the government are to have a better network of roads,” he said. Given that highways and rural roads have been constructed over the years in the country, Kapoor said that there is a need to ensure that the networks of roads are seamlessly integrated.
Addressing the programme, Damon DuBord, Energy Unit Chief, US Embassy in India said that electrifying the transportation sector will be important and promoting e-mobility is an important component of both countries’ journey towards net zero. The session was chaired by Sunil Jain, Regional Council Member, IACC and the other speakers included Gunita Pahwa, Joint Managing Partner, S&A Law Offices, Amol Chitnis, Co-Founder and Director, Reliable Autotech Private Limited. (ANI)
At 2+2 dialogue, US-India emphasise transformative momentum in ties for Indo-Pacific security
Washington, DC [US], September 27 (ANI): Top US Defence and State Department officials co-chaired the seventh 2+2 Intersessional Dialogue with their Indian counterparts here on September 26 and laid their emphasis on the transformative momentum in US-India ties and reiterated the need to uphold security in the Indo-Pacific region, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
The US Defence Department said they reviewed progress toward operationalizing major bilateral initiatives on information-sharing, defence industrial cooperation, and joint service engagements.
The dialogue was co-chaired by Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner alongside Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, Additional Secretary Vani Rao of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, and Joint Secretary Vishwesh Negi of the Indian Ministry of Defence, said Department of Defence spokesperson John Supple.
The officials underscored the transformative momentum in US-India relations and reaffirmed that a strong US-India partnership is essential to upholding security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, he added. Assistant Secretary Ratner reaffirmed the Department’s commitment to working with India to advance our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific. “It was terrific to co-chair today’s U.S.-India 2+2 Intersessional Dialogue, where we reviewed the progress we’ve made on ambitious initiatives across the Major Defense Partnership,” posted Ratner on X.
The 2+2 Intersessional Dialogue advanced a wide range of ambitious initiatives across the breadth of the US-India partnership, including defence and security, emerging technologies, people-to-people ties, clean energy, and supply chain resilience. On the defence side, Assistant Secretary Ratner and his counterparts reviewed the progress the two countries have made on implementing the Roadmap for US-India Defence Industrial Cooperation; they welcomed progress on new co-production initiatives and committed to expeditiously conclude negotiations on Security of Supply Arrangement and Reciprocal Defence Procurement agreements, the statement said.
They also discussed opportunities to further strengthen interoperability and logistics cooperation, including through combined maritime engagements in the Indian Ocean region, as well as expanded cooperation in the space and cyber domains. The officials also discussed regional security developments and strategic priorities across the Indo-Pacific region, it added. (ANI)
