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Transcript of Special Briefing by Foreign Secretary on Prime Minister's visit to USA (September 21, 2024)

India - Ministry of External Affairs

September 21, 2024

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Welcome to this Special Briefing by Foreign Secretary on Prime Minister's visit to USA. I invite Foreign Secretary sir to make his opening remarks.

Shri Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary: Good evening, good morning. It's a rather late hour for a Press Briefing, but I guess it's bright and early back home in India. Let me share with you a sense of a very full and packed day today. The overall visit is a short and compact one, but it has many, many themes and outcomes packed into it and you've seen a sample of that today.

Let me give you first a rundown of all that happened today. The Prime Minister landed in Philadelphia after a 15 and a half hour flight from New Delhi, and went almost straight away into a bilateral meeting with President Biden. As you probably saw, the meeting was held in a very evocative setting at President Biden's personal residence in Wilmington. Following that, we got down to the events related to the Quad Summit. This, as you know, is the fourth in-person Summit of the leaders, the sixth Summit overall, and that was held at the Archmere Academy, again a venue very, very closely connected with President Biden. Prime Minister also, together with the other Quad leaders, participated in the launch of a Cancer Moonshot initiative being taken by the Quad leaders. This one aimed at addressing the challenges posed by cervical cancer. The Prime Minister had bilateral meetings with his other Quad counterparts, Prime Minister Kishida of Japan and Prime Minister Albanese of Australia and the evening ended with a dinner hosted by President Biden.

Now some of you might recall that in my pre-visit briefing in New Delhi, I had referred to this visit having multiple themes in terms of the formats that it would cover and the messages that it was seeking to flag and underline. The formats are the bilateral, the plurilateral and the multilateral format, and today we have seen a mix of the first two, the bilateral and the plurilateral format. All of these engagements today have given the opportunity to Prime Minister to put forward India's views and commitments for global growth, development and peace and security. If I can give you also, in a sense, the overarching themes that have been reflected in across the multiple meetings, because we can get into separate meetings if you wish, but the overall messages that have come through in all of his engagements have been India's emphasis on minimizing conflict and division, leveraging our democratic values even as we pursue development objectives and highlighting the role of technology and the digital revolution in ushering in good governance, essentially to turn the disruptive features of technology to good ends.

In the bilateral meetings today, all these themes found reflection in the interactions with the other leaders. With the United States, I would point to a very special feature of that bilateral meeting, which was the return of nearly 300 antiquities to India. So here we were talking not just about Vikas but also about Virasat. In the plurilateral meetings today, which was the Quad-related engagements, Prime Minister underlined India's approach of cooperation, contact and engagement for growth with a variety of partners in the Indo-Pacific. It was striking to hear the other Quad leaders acknowledge India's actions and also at the same time hear their expectations of India, which really underlines the need to continue to work and sustain this enormous trust that India has earned from its partners.

And, the last thing that I would emphasize is the aspect of, returning once again to the aspect of technology, which was emphasized in both the bilateral and the plurilateral formats. The Quad Fact Sheet, which has been released, has a number of references to this. The bilateral meetings have references to this. The Joint Fact Sheet released with the United States also has references to the technology related cooperation, for instance, semiconductors related MoUs that have been entered into. I think the main message apart from, of course, the practical value of these technology cooperation agreements by the Prime Minister was also the need to prevent the malign use of technology, as I said earlier, to put technology to good use.

Just to give you a little bit of flavor of some of the engagements that took place and some of the specific major deliverables that we can take away from just this day. In the bilateral meeting with President Biden and also in the Quad Summit, Prime Minister thanked President Biden, profusely for hosting the Summit and for his leadership of the Quad in recent times and his personal commitment to strengthen the Quad as a force for global good. In fact, the Prime Minister today referred to the Quad in a very, very evocative way. He called it Quick, Unified Assistance Delivery. And the other members of the Quad, in fact, said that they finally understood what Quad really signified and stood for. The Prime Minister also mentioned that at a time when the world is ridden with tensions and conflicts, the coming together of these four Quad partners, which shared democratic values, is important for humanity. He said the Quad was here to stay, to assist, to partner, and to complement the efforts of the Indo-Pacific countries. The leaders took stock of the progress that had been achieved by the Quad over the last one year and set forth an ambitious agenda for the next year. And as you all know, India will be hosting the Quad Summit in 2025.

Amongst the major announcements from this particular edition of the Quad, one I have already referred to, which was a separate sideline event at the Summit, which is the Quad Cancer Moonshot, which is a groundbreaking partnership to address the challenges posed by cancer, and in this particular instance, by cervical cancer. The partners also launched the first ever Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission, this will take place in 2025, to improve interoperability and advance maritime safety between our respective Coast Guards across the Indo-Pacific.

The Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network project will pursue shared airlift capacity among our nations and leverage our collective logistics strengths to support civilian response to natural disasters more efficiently and more rapidly. The Quad Ports of the Future Partnership will harness the Quad's collective expertise to support sustainable and resilient port infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific. Partners will share with each other practices that ensure that our ports are able to maintain an acceptable level of service and infrastructure to ships, especially in the face of disruptions. A semiconductor supply chain's Contingency Network memorandum of cooperation has been announced that would leverage the complementary strengths of the Quad partners to realize a diversified and competitive market and enhance Quad resilience in semiconductor supply chains. Of course, there was discussion of multiple regional and global issues and amongst them the need for the reform of the multilateral system of governance, including the UN Security Council.

Just to give you a snapshot of India's own initiatives at this particular edition of the Quad, you know about India's leadership by way of digital public infrastructure. The Quad leaders on this occasion welcome the Quad principles for development and deployment of digital public infrastructure. They will work to provide equitable access and improve public service delivery at scale. The Prime Minister announced a grant of US$7.5 million for making available HPV sampling kits, detection kits, and cervical cancer vaccines to countries in the Indo-Pacific, as part of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative. India will also offer technical assistance and capacity building on DPI in cancer care to interested countries from the Indo-Pacific through its commitment of $10 million to the WHO's Global Initiative on Digital Health. There is a commitment from Serum Institute of India in partnership with GAVI and the Quad to support orders of up to 40 million HPV vaccine doses for the Indo-Pacific region. India will also invest $2 million in setting up new solar projects in Fiji, Comoros, Madagascar and Seychelles.

The Quad partners agreed to launch a Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific, it's called MAITRI, to enable Indo-Pacific partners to maximize tools provided through IPMDA and other Quad initiatives. Last but not least, India announced a new category of scholarships for students of the Indo-Pacific region that would enable them to pursue four-year bachelor's level engineering programs at Indian government-funded technical institutes. Yes, one more point I would like to make. India will host the inaugural Quad Ports of the Future Partnership Conference next year which will harness the Quad's expertise to support sustainable and resilient port infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific.

Apart from the Quad event, let me cover very quickly some themes in the Prime Minister's meeting with President Biden. As I had previewed in my briefing earlier this week, both sides, on the occasion of this meeting, exchanged agreements pertaining to the deposit of the instruments of ratification for Pillar 3 and Pillar 4 of the IPEF and the overarching agreement thereof. External Affairs Minister, Dr. Jaishankar and Secretary of State Antony Blinken also exchanged the agreement pertaining to a bilateral drug policy framework and the accompanying MoU. During the meeting itself, both sides discussed at length the ever-expanding agenda of the India-U.S. Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership which has left no aspect of human endeavor untouched. They discussed ongoing cooperation in technology, in clean energy, in space, our engagement in defence and security and, of course, the regional and global situation.

Prime Minister thanked President Biden for his pioneering role in strengthening the India-U.S. partnership over the last four years. In particular, he highlighted President Biden's legacy initiative of the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies. There is a Joint Fact Sheet that has been released with regard to the India-U.S. part of it. I am sure all of you have it, so I won't go into the details of the fact sheet. I'll just flag a few... for instance, the U.S.-India roadmap to build safe and secure global clean energy supply chains. Under this, the United States has agreed to leverage nearly $1 billion in multilateral IBRD funding guarantees. This is to accelerate the expansion of safe and secure clean energy supply chains through U.S. and Indian manufacturing of clean energy technologies and components.

The leaders also welcomed progress between India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to provide up to $500 million each to anchor the Green Transition Fund as well as encourage private sector investors to match these efforts. President Biden welcomed India's decision to set a uniform GST of 5% on the MRO sector, and we welcomed commitments from U.S. industry to further increase India's MRO capabilities for the repair of aircraft and other platforms.

Just let me give you a brief snapshot of the Prime Minister's two other meetings, with Prime Minister Kishida and Prime Minister Albanese. With Prime Minister Kishida, as you are aware, it was in the nature of a farewell meeting, given the party elections that are scheduled later this month in Japan. Prime Minister appreciated in a very fulsome fashion the contribution to the bilateral relationship that has been made by Prime Minister Kishida. Next year is also the 10th anniversary of the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership. And it was agreed that this should be marked in an appropriate fashion. The two sides discussed economic cooperation and the progress of investment under the 5 trillion yen investment program that Japan has announced, cooperation on semiconductors and the setting up of Japanese industrial centers in India was discussed and there was also reference to the growing defence cooperation as well as people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

With the Prime Minister Albanese, 2025 also happens to be the fifth anniversary of the comprehensive strategic partnership between India and Australia. There was a reference to the progress made under ECTA and the impact that it was already having on trade between the two countries and the steps that the two sides were taking to conclude even more ambitious economic cooperation agreements such as the CECA. There was discussion on cooperation in defence and security related issues and the potential in cooperation in space and critical minerals. So as you can see it's been a full day and we are already into the following day, but let me stop there and if you have any questions I would be happy to take them.

Prashant: Sir, Prashant Jha of the Hindustan Times. If I may, two questions. The first is about iCET. This is an initiative you were closely involved within your previous role as well. We have seen semiconductor investments in the assembly testing packaging space and in research, but today's Fact Sheet talks about Fab. It talks about this being a watershed agreement and it talks about the US Space Force and two Indian companies engaging in the strategic technology partnership. Could you give us a sense of the significance of this and is this going to be India's first national security Fab?

The second question sir is on China. The US National Security Advisor in the morning before the meeting talked about how China will be a subject of discussion in the bilateral with President Biden. The Quad declaration, compared to Hiroshima's last year, seems to have employed stronger language on developments in South and East China Sea. Could you give us a sense of the conversations on China, both in the bilateral and the plurilateral space? Thank you sir.

Ayushi: Sir, good evening. This is Ayushi Agarwal from ANI. I also have two questions, one on Russia-Ukraine. How much was Russia-Ukraine conflict discussed with President Biden during the bilateral, and was there any kind of peace proposal that was presented from India side when it comes to resolving the conflict? Second, an additional question on China, how much was Chinese aggression in the South China Sea discussed with President Biden during the bilateral? Thank you.

Amrit Pal: This is Amrit Pal Singh from Doordarshan. Sir my question is, did Bangladesh come up for discussions and if you could share the contours of the discussion?

Krishna Mohan: Sir main Krishna Mohan Sharma, Bharat Express se. Do Sawal hain, ek sawal jo aapne kaha ki Micro-technology ka istemal human destruction ke liye kiya ja raha hai, ispe thoda light daale. Aur dusra pure media mei ek rumor kahain ya jo kuch bhi keh le, ki Trump sahab ki Prime Minister se mulakat ho payegi ya nahi ho payegi? Koi schedule hai ya nahi hai?

[Question in Hindi: Approximate translation] Sir, I am Krishna Mohan Sharma from Bharat Express. I have two questions: the first question is, you have said about the use of micro-technology for human destruction; could you shed some light on that? And the second question is, in the media, there is a rumor or whatever it may be called, regarding Mr. Trump's meeting with the Prime Minister. Will it happen or not? Is there any schedule for it or not?

Shri Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary: Let me take those questions. I think, Prashant, your question about the new Fab-related announcement that's been made in this Joint Fact Sheet between India and the United States. As you know, this company, the Indian company in this case, 3rd iTech, is a pioneering company and it's been working for the last few years in close cooperation with Government of India entities as well as with U.S. entities. In this case, as you have pointed out, there is a partnership between 3rd iTech, Bharat Semi and the U.S. Space Force. And this is a different Fab in the sense that this has been established with the objective of manufacturing infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors. And it will be supported by the Indian Semiconductor Mission as well as the Strategic Technology Partnership. I think what this represents is, first, the increasing and very substantial design as well as manufacturing capacities that are latent in India's semiconductor sector. We have always been known as a repository of design talent in so far as semiconductors are concerned, but this shows that we are breaking out into the fabrication part of it. And with the right support, the right incentives and the right access to technology and partnerships from abroad, Indian startups can actually make a global mark. Now on this, in this case, obviously there are national security elements involved on both sides. There will be applications of the products in national security areas. Whether you can call it a national security Fab, I will leave the labeling and the adjectives to you. But yes, I would say that this is an enormously encouraging development and we are sure that there are many more such start-ups that are capable of reproducing what these companies involved in this particular venture have done.

I think a lot of you, in your questions, have wanted to know about the content of the discussions and have pointed to specific countries or situations in so far as the Quad discussions as well as the bilateral discussions are concerned. Look, I think I should make it clear that these discussions are by their very nature all-encompassing discussions when either two leaders meet or the four leaders of the Quad meet. So all subjects are up for discussion. Perhaps some receive more emphasis than others, but all subjects are open for discussion. Different leaders in the Quad bring emphasis to different aspects and that is what brings a certain amount of uniqueness to Quad as well. I will not go into who said what because these are in a sense privileged discussions, but you get a sense of the areas, in which there is commonality of views, by going through the declaration that was issued at the conclusion of the Summit.

In so far as the specific question of a peace proposal related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict is concerned, I think I had answered a similar question in the pre-visit briefing in New Delhi as well. I want to again underline that we are involved in a set of ongoing conversations with interlocutors on all sides. It is, obviously, people see value in India's engagement in these conversations and we are able to talk to multiple interlocutors, and this is not something that is going to have an outcome in the present stage because there is still quite a bit of work that remains to be done. As and when there is something in the nature of what you have suggested, we will come back to you, but at the moment, these are very important conversations that are going on with multiple people on all sides of this conflict.

There was a question on whether there was a reference to Bangladesh in the discussions. Look, as I said, these discussions cover subjects that are in the region. They may be of bilateral interest to one party or the other, but they do have significance beyond the region as well. In this context, a number of situations came up for discussion. Bangladesh also figured in the discussions and there was an exchange of views with regard to the situation there.

Aapka sawal tha ki jab maine varnan kiya ki technology aur jo uska disruptive ya destructive reference tha uska tatparya kya tha. Dekhiye, jo ye ek theme Pradhan Mantri ji ne apni meetings mei iske baare mei jab unhone varnan kiya toh iska matlab ye hai ki humne itihas mei dekha hai ki technology ka upyog bhi ho sakta hai, aur uska bada bhayankar durupayog bhi ho sakta hai. Aur ab main aapko pahle viswhayuddh ya dusre vishwayuddh, aur woh vishwayuddh samapt kaise hue iske itihas mei nahi le jana chahta, aap jaankar hain aur samajhdar hain toh aap samjh rahe honge ki main kya keh raha hoon. Lekin aaj hum phir se ek baar is mod pe aake khade hue hain jahan pe din-ba-din nayi-nayi technologies aa rahi hain, aur in sabhi technologies ke dual uses hain, inke military uses bhi hain aur bahot khatarnak military uses ho sakte hain. Aur technology ke disruptive ya dangerous uses ko control karna aur usko ek constructive disha mei le jana, yahi tatparya tha jo Pradhan Mantri ji ke kuch references rahe hain apni kuch meetings mei. Jaise aap agar data ya digital technology ko le lijiye, toh digital technology ka durupayog bhi kiya ja sakta hai weapon platforms mein uska istemal karke, lekin digital technology ka sadupayog bhi kiya ja sakta hain jaise digial public infrastructure ke madhyam se. Toh yahi kehne ka tatparya tha ke hum isko ek constructive aur productive tarike se istemal karain na ki destructive disha mei isko le jaye.

[Answer in Hindi: Approximate translation] You asked what I meant when I discussed technology and its disruptive or destructive reference. Look, when the Prime Minister addressed this theme in his meetings, it indicated that we have seen throughout history that technology can be used, but it can also be misused in very dangerous ways. I don't want to go into the history of the First or Second World War and how they ended; you are knowledgeable and sensible, so you understand what I am saying. However, we find ourselves at a crossroads once again, where new technologies are emerging every day, and all these technologies have dual uses. They have military applications, that can be very dangerous. The intent behind the Prime Minister's references in his meetings was to control the disruptive or dangerous uses of technology and to direct it in a constructive direction. For example, if we take data or digital technology, it can be misused in weapon platforms, but it can also be used effectively through digital public infrastructure. So, the point is that we should use it in a constructive and productive manner rather than taking it in a destructive direction.

Aur aapne meeting ke baare mei pucha hai, maine pahle bhi kaha tha aaj hum savere se jab se aaye hain tab se ek meeting se dusri meeting mei ja rahe hain, jab bhi meetings fix ho jayengi, kal ki meetings ke bare mei abhi bhi jab hum yahan aa rahe the, toh isi ke bare mei baat kar rahe the ki kaun kaun si meetings kab fix hongi, toh jaise meetings ke bare mei pata chalta rahega, aapko batate rahenge.

[Answer in Hindi: Approximate translation] And you asked about the meetings. I had mentioned earlier that since this morning, we have been going from one meeting to another. So whenever the meetings are finalized, we will let you know. Even while we were coming here, we were discussing which meetings would be scheduled. As soon as we have information about the meetings, we will inform you.

Manish: Manish Chand, India Writes Network. Foreign Secretary, I am talking about the positioning and branding of Quad, as a force for global public good. Prime Minister, in his statement, also said that it is not directed against any third country, was there a meeting on minds, concurrence on that because If we go by the statements of the US officials and also the Japanese Prime Minister, there was a lot of talk about Chinese aggression and assertiveness.

And my second question is about the atmospherics of Prime Minister Modi's meeting with Joe Biden. From the images we saw on television, he clasped his hands and spent quite a bit of time, you know, a few minutes I would say. What was the message, personally, if you could give us some insight into some privileged glimpse of what was discussed?

Sarjana: Namaskar. Main Sarjana Sharma hoon Sanmarg se. Sir, agli bar jab New Delhi mei baithak hogi 25 mei, toh do neta nahi honge, Japan ke Pradhan Mantri aur America ke Rashtrapati, toh unhone koi aisa main point ya kahin stress kiya ho, kisi pe zor diya ho ki yeh hum na rahain tab bhi uske baad yeh cheezain aage badni chahiye.

[Question in Hindi: Approximate translation] Namaskar. I am Sarjana Sharma from Sanmarg. Sir, at the next meeting in New Delhi in 2025, two leaders will not be present: the current Prime Minister of Japan and the current President of the United States. Did they emphasize any main points or stress anything that should continue to move forward even in their absence?

Shubhendu: I'm Shubhendu from DD India. There's a first ever Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission that has been mentioned. What is the scope of it? When we talk about interoperability and advanced maritime safety, is there also a mandate to defend partner countries given the number of skirmishes in the sea lately?

Shri Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary: So, with regard to the question on the positioning of Quad as a force for good, I think this is the basis of, in a sense, it's the theme that defines India's participation in the Quad, doing more good for more people and engaging on a constructive agenda, not standing against anything but standing for something. These are all themes that have been reflected again and again in India's interventions in the Quad. It was striking to see, during the course of the discussions today, the amount of interventions or the number of interventions that India has made, not just in what you might call its close periphery, but far off into the Pacific Islands. We have projects being undertaken in nearly every Pacific Island. And the kinds of projects that are there, whether these are hospitals or the construction of clinics or the supply of water treatment plants or the supply of ambulances or medicines, these are all aimed at human good. And I think every one of our initiatives has this as the theme. And it was heartening, in fact, to see the other Quad leaders acknowledge and appreciate the initiatives that India was taking and the kind of work it was doing in this regard.

As to the atmosphere in the meeting with President Biden, as I said earlier as well, it was indeed an emotional moment. Prime Minister was aware of the fact that, in a sense, it was a farewell meeting with President Biden. And the fact that it was taking place at his personal residence made it all the more special. And in fact, he mentioned to him that, in India, we say, 'Jab dil ke darwaze khul jaate hain toh ghar ke darwaze bi khul jaate hain' (When the heart's doors open, the home's doors also open). And he said that you have today opened the doors of your home to us. The fact that the doors of your heart have been opened to us has been known for a long time. There was a very, very personal and a very emotional connect between the two leaders. And the setting of the meeting itself was very special. As I mentioned to you, insofar as the return of the antiquities is concerned, three of those antiquities were actually up for display in President Biden's residence. And the two leaders were able to inspect the antiquities there and take a look at them there. So it was a very, very special meeting in all respects.

Sarjana aapka sawal tha ki 2025 do naye sadasya matlab ek Pradhan Mantri aur ek Rashtrapati Quad Summit mei Delhi mei usmai bhaag lenge, jo aapne kaha bilkul wahi aaj baat chal rahi thi. Aur sabhi ka ye manna tha jo do leader ek tarah se aaj alvida keh rahe the aur jo do leader abhi hain aur waise Australia mei bhi agle saal chunav hain toh Pradhan Mantri Albanese usmai chunav mei ladhenge, lekin jo mukhya baat hain woh ye hain ki sabhi leaders keh rahe the ki jo kaam humne shuru kiya hain aur jo hamari abhi tak ki achievements hain inko chalu rakhna chahiye, in par aur kaam karna chahiye, inko aur intensify karna chahiye. Kisi ek leader ke seva nivrutti unki ho jane se ya avkash lene se iska momentum kam nahi hona chahiye aur nahi hoga, aur ek tarah se Pradhan Mantri ji ne khud apni taraf se puri pratibaddhta jatai is chiz ko le ke ki jo kaam in charon leaders ne shuru kiya hai, woh aage bilkul pure josh-o-kharosh ke sath jari rahega.

[Answer in Hindi: Approximate translation] Sarjana, your question was about the two new members —one Prime Minister and one President—who will participate in the Quad Summit in Delhi in 2025. What you mentioned is exactly what was being discussed today. Everyone agreed that the two current leaders who are saying goodbye today, along with the upcoming elections in Australia where Prime Minister Albanese will be contesting, highlight a key point: all leaders were emphasizing that the work they have started and their achievements so far should continue, there is need to keep working on these and intensify them. The momentum should not decrease, and will not decrease due to one leader's retirement or his taking a break. In fact, the Prime Minister himself expressed full commitment to ensuring that the work initiated by these four leaders continues with great enthusiasm.

Shubhendu, your question on the Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission, essentially, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Japan Coast Guard, the Australian Border Force, and the Indian Coast Guard have come together to launch this particular initiative in 2025 in the Indo-Pacific, primarily to improve interoperability. And through this effort, I'm just giving you one line of action, because all of these are new ideas and they are, therefore, iterative processes. There will be learnings from the first that will go into a future edition of these initiatives. So in this one, the members of these four different forces will spend time onboard a U.S. Coast Guard vessel operating in the Indo-Pacific. And as the name suggests, this is an observer mission and there will be, obviously, a certain amount of learning about practices, procedures, and tactics. And the idea is to see what are the best practices that we can learn from other similar forces. And this is the first mission. The intention is to learn and continue these missions in the Indo-Pacific.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: With that we come to close of this Special Briefing. We'll keep you updated as the visit progresses. Thank you very much.