US Senator: Modi Visit Heralds Defense Pact
Joe Gould
WASHINGTON — When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Washington this week, expect a major announcement on defense, according to a top Senate Democrat.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s ranking member, Ben Cardin, was not specific, but the comments come as India is on the brink of signing a logistics-sharing agreement the US has sought for a decade. Modi is scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama Tuesday and address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
“The Indian prime minister wants to be seen visiting the US twice in a short period of time, and to me, that’s a huge statement in and of itself,” Cardin, D-Maryland, told reporters Tuesday. “The deliverables will flow from that, it will be on defense, it will be on climate.”
Called the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), the agreement is one of three that would deepen the existing US-India defense relationship. Such agreements—while largely symbolic—potentially pave the way for significant technology transfers, heretofore hindered by India’s reluctance to become a formal treaty partner of the US and the Indian defense establishment’s memory of US sanctions that ended only a decade ago.
Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar announced the talks on LEMOA were close after Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s most recent visit to India.
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US Names India 'Major Defense Partner'
Joe Gould
WASHINGTON — The United States and India have reached a new series of agreements on climate change, nuclear power and national security Tuesday, including a new status for India as a "Major Defense Partner" to the US.
Following a meeting between President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday, the White House released a joint statement acknowledging the US-India defense relationship as a "possible anchor of stability," and heralding new technology sharing "at a level commensurate with that of its closest allies and partners."
The leaders reached an understanding under which India would receive license-free access to a wide range of dual-use technologies in conjunction with unspecified steps that India has committed to take to advance its export control objectives, the statement read.
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