From corporate czars to farmers, India, US join hands

Among the Indian CEOs on the forum are Ratan Tata, Mukhesh Ambani, Nandan Nilekani and Yogesh Deveshwar. Included in the American team are Charles Prince of the Citi group, Warren Stanley of Cargill, and Steven Reinemund of Pepsi.

Democracy Initiative

Giving some muscle to the rhetoric from both Singh and Bush on their shared values of democracy, the two governments today launched the ‘US-India Global Democracy Initiative’.

With their ‘‘solid democratic traditions and institutions’’, India and the US ‘‘have agreed to assist other societies in transition seeking to become more open and democratic’’.

While recognising that democracy ‘‘is a universal aspiration’’, the initiative emphasises cooperation with those countries that have already made democracy a political goal.

Completion of NSSP

With India passing its domestic law on proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the US liberalising its export control regulations on civilian space, nuclear safety cooperation, and high technology trade, the two sides have now proclaimed an end to the ‘Next Steps in Strategic Partnership’ launched in January 2004.

The completion of the NSSP, the two sides say, ‘‘clears the way for even greater engagement’’ in a number of high technology areas.

Disaster Relief Initiative

Building on their cooperation in jointly providing relief to the tsunami victims in the Indian Ocean earlier this year, Indian and US militaries will conduct ‘‘joint and combined military exercises’’. US Pacific Command and the Indian Integrated Defence Staff will be the military leads in establishing ‘‘a dialogue and identify additional military training needs’’ and ‘‘other challenges to a speedy and effective disaster response’’.

Energy Dialogue

Building on a broad range of existing cooperation, the Indo-US energy dialogue will help mobilise ‘‘secure, clean reliable and affordable sources of energy’’. As part of this effort, five working groups have been formed-on oil and gas, coal, power and energy efficiency, renewable energy, and civil nuclear energy. The group on civil nuclear energy will focus on peaceful nuclear energy initiatives including potential cooperation in ‘‘fusion science and related fundamental research topics’’.

S&T Cooperation and IPR

The US and India signed an umbrella S&T Agreement to promote joint research projects in a number of areas. The new agreement for the first time allows for joint funding as well as establishing ‘‘intellectual property right protocols and other provisions necessary to conduct active collaborative research’’.

Initiative on Agriculture

India and the US have launched a knowledge initiative on agriculture that upgrades institutional contacts on agriculture to address the challenges of ‘‘sustainability, productivity and social responsiveness’’.