India-US bilateral Commercial Dialogue 2023: Collaboration in range of sectors, including semiconductors, renewable energy, agreed

The India-US bilateral Commercial Dialogue 2023 was held from March 7 to 10 during the visit of US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to the country.

Co-chaired by Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and US Secretary of Commerce, the Commercial Dialogue is a part of ongoing efforts to strengthen US-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.

The dialogue was re-launched in accordance with the U.S.-India Joint Leaders’ Statement of September 2021, with a renewed focus on future and emerging areas of bilateral commercial partnership.

Raimondo led a high-level business delegation of US CEOs for the CEO Forum. CEO Forum is also focusing on shared strategic priorities in an outcome-oriented way. The CEO Forum was itself also re-launched in November 2022.

Goyal and Raimondo agreed that both countries will take further steps to enhance their commercial collaboration and tap into market potential across multiple sectors.

Both sides envision further coordination on how best to foster an enabling environment for increased investment, including by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-up companies.

Secretary Raimondo welcomed India’s active partnership in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) and appreciated India’s hosting of the Special Round of negotiations for IPEF Pillars II-IV, between 8-11 February 2023 in New Delhi.

The Minister and the Secretary agreed that strengthening economic engagement among IPEF partner countries is crucial for inclusive growth, peace, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. They both agreed that IPEF will bring benefits such as technical assistance, capacity building, enhanced investment flows, infrastructure development, resilient supply chains, facilitation of the clean economy transition, and strengthened anti-corruption efforts and tax administration.

Goyal and Raimondo welcomed the new U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), which aims to expand the strategic technology partnership between the two countries. The collaboration aims to support iCET's vision of building a trusted technology value chain partnership and promoting greater cooperation in critical and emerging technologies, co-development and co-production, and innovation ecosystem connectivity.

Union Minister Goyal and Secretary Raimondo noted the importance of coordinating with the standing mechanism established by the two governments under iCET, which aims to address regulatory barriers and other issues that impede smooth economic and commercial ties.

The Minister and the Secretary emphasized the significance of the Commercial Dialogue for maintaining progress on common economic goals. They agreed to hold a mid-year review in 2023, led by senior government officials from both sides, to further advance the priorities outlined in the Commercial Dialogue. This review will include implementing a roadmap based on the economic vision of the Minister and the Secretary, as well as ensuring active involvement of the private sector.

Recognizing the importance of U.S. and Indian markets to the global electronics industry, Raimondo and Goyal intend to utilize the Commercial Dialogue to enhance public and private efforts to promote industry cooperation in the semiconductor sector.

These efforts will identify opportunities for growth and challenges to address in order to ensure that U.S. and Indian semiconductor industries develop stronger connections, complementary ecosystems, and a more diverse supply chain for semiconductors.

Towards that end, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister and US Secretary of Commerce Raimondo welcomed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a Semiconductor Sub-committee under the Commercial Dialogue, led by the Department of Commerce for the U.S. side and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Ministry of Commerce and Industry for the Indian side.

The Minister and the Secretary charged the Semiconductor Sub-committee with convening its first engagement in advance of any Commercial Dialogue mid-year review and reviewing recommendations from the joint industry led task force launched in connection with the iCET.

Both sides recognized the need for increased bilateral strategic and high technology trade and collaboration given the shared priority of building resilient and trusted global supply chains and the mutual interest in taking forward the outcomes of iCET.

In that context, the U.S. Department of Commerce and Indian Ministry of External Affairs plan to launch an India-U.S. Strategic Trade Dialogue to address export controls, explore ways of enhancing high technology commerce, and facilitating technology transfer between the two countries.

The dialogue will be led by the Foreign Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, on the Indian side and by the Under Secretary for Industry and Security, Department of Commerce, for the U.S. side.

The Minister and the Secretary share a concern that cyber threats such as unauthorized access, ransomware, and data destruction are growing, as is the need to protect against those threats.

This need applies not only to the growing e-commerce, digital payments, and related services sectors, but also to connected manufacturing and critical infrastructure.

Secretary Raimondo welcomed the opportunity to explore the potential for mutually beneficial engagement on cyber security and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as information sharing on cyber security and AI resources and approaches under established bilateral mechanisms such as the Commercial Dialogue.

Minister Goyal noted India’s interest in partnering with the United States in developing a secure pharmaceutical manufacturing base and diversifying supply chains for critical and strategic minerals (including rare earths).

On clean energy initiative, they agreed to improve their countries' energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The two countries pledged to connect their industries and discuss opportunities and critical issues in the energy and clean-tech sectors.

The U.S.-India Energy Industry Network (EIN) is a platform for facilitating U.S. industry involvement in the Clean EDGE Asia initiative, and the U.S. Department of Commerce is working to re-invigorate the EIN as a platform to discuss opportunities in the Indian energy sector.

The Minister welcomed the opportunity for Indian companies to participate in these activities, and they agree on the importance of U.S.-India commercial partnership to reduce supply chain dependence for solar equipment.

The two sides acknowledge the importance of green energy development under the U.S.-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) and expressed support for two key initiatives: the development and deployment of hydrogen technologies and the launch of a new Energy Storage Task Force. They also pledged to work together in the Global Biofuels Alliance under India's G20 presidency.

Goyal expressed India’s desire for deeper collaboration with the U.S. on increasing access to components in the solar power value chain, investing in battery storage, and manufacturing offshore wind turbines.

The U.S. Department of Commerce plans to send a Clean Energy and Environmental Technology Business Development Mission to India in 2024 to further foster U.S.-Indian business partnerships in grid modernization, renewable energy, energy storage, and environmental technology solutions.

Secretary Raimondo praised India's efforts to increase ICT connectivity and digital inclusion. Both sides recognized the importance of cross-border data flow and intend to work together in developing next-generation standards in telecommunications, including 6G. They also plan to collaborate on the validation and deployment of trusted and secure next-generation telecom network equipment, including Open RAN.