India and the US have decided to take a big leap in broad-basing their strategic ties in several critical areas, with President Donald Trump announcing after talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Washington is paving the way to provide New Delhi with F-35 fighter jets as part of increasing military supplies by billions of dollars.
After holding wide-ranging talks with Modi, Trump said there is a "special bond" between the world's oldest and largest democracies and both sides decided to shore up cooperation in diverse areas such as energy, critical technologies and connectivity.
"Starting this year, we will be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars," Trump said at a joint press conference with Modi.
Possible F-35 deal in the future
"We are also paving the way to ultimately provide India with F-35 stealth fighters," he said.
The F35 jets are known as the most lethal, survivable and connected fighter aircraft in the world.
Asked at a media briefing if India plans to procure F-35 jets from the US, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, said it is at a proposal stage.
US to be India's leading Oil and Gas supplier
Trump said he and PM Modi have reached an agreement on energy that will make the US a leading supplier of oil and gas to India.
Currently, Russia is India's largest source of oil and gas and other petroleum products.
India, US aim for $500 billion trade by 2030
According to the joint statement issued after the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump here, the two leaders have also pledged the bilateral trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security and job creation.
"To this end, the leaders set a bold new goal for bilateral trade – Mission 500 – aiming to more than double total bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030. Recognizing that this level of ambition would require new, fair-trade terms, the leaders announced plans to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall of 2025," it said.
Extradition of 26/11 plotter Tahawwur Rana
The US President also announced that India and the US will be working together like "never before" to confront the threat of radical Islamic terror across the world.
"I am pleased to announce that my administration has approved extradition of one of the very evil people of the world," he said, referring to the extradition
of 26/11 plotter Tahawwur Rana to India.
On the contentious issue of tariff, the US president said Washington wants a level playing field.
Earlier, Trump welcomed Modi with a long handshake and a warm hug at his at his Oval Office in the White House, while describing the prime minister as a "great friend" for a long time.
The two leaders made brief statements to the media and answered a number of questions before settling down for the crucial talks, hours after the American President announced a new reciprocal tariff policy for all the trading partners of the US.
"We are going to work with India also. We have separate big trade deals to announce in the very near future," Trump said while talking about his administration's trade policy.
"We are going to make some wonderful trade deals for India and for the US," he said replying to a question.
In his remarks, Modi congratulated Trump for becoming the president for a second term and recalled the upward trajectory of India-US relations during the American leader's first stint at the White House.
"I firmly believe that in your second term, we will work with more speed," he said.
On Russia-Ukraine conflict
The Prime Minister and the President also answered questions on the Russia-Ukraine conflict "I support Donald Trump's efforts towards finding a possible solution to end the war. The world somehow feels India has been neutral during the war. But I would like to reiterate that India has not been neutral. India has been on the side of peace," Modi said.
"When I met President Putin, I had even said that 'this is not the era for war'. I had also said that solutions cannot be found on the battlefield. They can only come when all parties sit at the table for dialogue," he added.
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