PM Modi, Vice-President JD Vance welcome progress in negotiations for trade pact

India and the US on Monday welcomed the significant progress in the negotiations for a mutually beneficial bilateral trade pact as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Vice President JD Vance held wideranging talks to enhance cooperation in areas of defence energy and technologiesModi hosted Vance Indianorigin US Second Lady Usha Chilukuri and their three children Ewan Vivek and Mirabel over dinner at his 7 Lok Kalyan Marg residence after the official talksPM Modi conveyed to Vance his warm greetings for President Donald Trump and said that he looked forward to his visit to India later this yearThe prime minister and the vice president also exchanged views on various regional and global issues of mutual interest including the RussiaUkraine conflict and called for dialogue and diplomacy as the way forwardVance and his family arrived in Delhi this morning on a fourday visit that came weeks after President Trump imposed and then paused a sweeping tariff regime against around 60 countries including IndiaNew Delhi and Washington are now holding negotiations to seal a bilateral trade agreement as agreed during Modis talks with Trump in Washington DC in February The trade pact is expected to address a variety of issues including tariff and market accessPrime Minister Modi and Vice President Vance reviewed and positively assessed the progress in various areas of bilateral cooperation an Indian readout saidThey welcomed the significant progress in the negotiations for a mutually beneficial IndiaUS Bilateral Trade Agreement BTA focused on the welfare of the people of the two countries it saidLikewise they noted continued efforts towards enhancing cooperation in energy defence strategic technologies and other areas it saidIt is for the first time that the two sides publicly announced that there has been significant progress in the negotiations for the BTA first tranche of which is likely to be finalised by this fallA delegation of Indian negotiators are set to travel to the US on Wednesday to hold talks with American officials on the BTAThe prime minister fondly recalled his visit to Washington DC in February and his fruitful discussions with President Trump which laid down the roadmap for close cooperation between India and the US leveraging the strengths of Make America Great Again MAGA and Viksit Bharat 2047 the Indian readout saidIt said Modi and Vance also exchanged views on various regional and global issues of mutual interest and called for dialogue and diplomacy as the way forwardThe prime minister conveyed his warm greetings to President Trump and said that he looked forward to his visit to India later this year the readout saidTrump is expected to visit India later this year to attend the annual summit of the Quad groupingThe prime minister extended his best wishes to the Vice President Second Lady and their children for a pleasant and productive stay in India the readout addedExternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar NSA Ajit Doval and Principal Secretary II to PM Shaktikanta Das were part of the Indian delegation at the talksThe focus of the talks was learnt to be early finalisation of the bilateral trade pact as well as ways to boost overall trajectory of ties including in areas of defence and energyThe US Vice President and his family landed in Delhi after their trip to Italy over the weekendVance is the first US vice president to visit India in 12 years after Joe Biden visited New Delhi in 2013On April 22 the Vances will visit a number of historical sites in Jaipur including the Amer Fort also known as Amber Fort The fort is a UNESCO world heritage siteIn the afternoon the US Vice President is scheduled to address a gathering at the Rajasthan International Center in JaipurVance is expected to delved into broader aspects of IndiaUS relations under the Donald Trump administration during his speech that is expected to be attended by diplomats foreign policy experts Indian government officials and academiaThe US Vice President and his family will travel to Agra on the morning of April 23 people familiar with the matter saidIn Agra they will visit Taj Mahal and Shilpgram which is an open air emporium showcasing various Indian artefacts they saidAfter concluding their visit to Agra the Vances will return to Jaipur on the second half of April 23The Vances will depart for the US from Jaipur on April 24 according to the people cited aboveThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params