The United States and India signed a new agreement yesterday to expand and diversify their critical mineral supply chains.
The memorandum of understanding was signed by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal during a meeting of the US-India Commercial Dialogue.
The MOU is aimed at leveraging the two countries' complementary strengths to ensure greater resilience in the critical minerals sector. Priority areas of focus include identifying equipment, services, policies, and best practices to facilitate the mutually beneficial commercial development of US and Indian critical minerals exploration, extraction, processing and refining, recycling and recovery.
The two officials also launched a new effort under the Innovation Handshake agenda to accelerate innovation specifically in energy security, technology, and sustainability. To leverage the complementary strengths of the United States and India, as the number one and number 3 largest startup ecosystems in the world, Commerce and the Indian Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade intend to invite startup companies, investors and technology thought leaders to come together in 2025 in search of breakthrough solutions to advance “INDUS Innovation for Energy Security, Technology and Sustainability.”
Targeted problem sets and other details will be announced in the coming months.
Minister Goyal also met Thursday with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Chief Agricultural Negotiator Doug McKalip.
They discussed their desire to work together on shared priorities at the World Trade Organization, their commitment to address outstanding bilateral agricultural issues and new ways to enhance the trade relationship between the United States and India.
The officials also noted the positive discussions during India-US Trade Policy Forum Intersessional meetings held in New Delhi last month and agreed to reconvene the TPF at the Ministerial level expeditiously to address additional issues impacting the bilateral trade relationship.
Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal convened the 6th ministerial level meeting of the U.S.-India Commercial Dialogue (Commercial Dialogue).
The Commerce Department readout included a recap of accomplishments since the 5th ministerial meeting of March 2023 in New Delhi including:
The Secretary and the Minister also reviewed other joint efforts that have been made, including under the India-U.S. Strategic Trade Dialogue and the Standards and Conformance Cooperation Program(SCCP).
Looking ahead, they discussed the following priorities for future collaboration:
Theey confirmed their intention to convene in 2025 a mid-year review led by senior government officials from both sides.
Finally, the Secretary and the Minister welcomed the reconvening of the U.S.-India CEO Forum on October 2, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
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