Key highlights of the visit:
- US President Donald Trump, on his first State visit to India, and PM Modi decided to elevate ties between their countries to a “comprehensive global strategic partnership”, giving it broader scope and scale.
- No trade deal was signed during the visit. The two leaders said they looked forward to “early conclusion” of defence cooperation enabling agreements including Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA).
- The two sides also “expressed interest in the concept of the Blue Dot Network, a multi-stakeholder initiative that will bring governments, the private sector, and civil society together to promote high-quality trusted standards for global infrastructure development”.
- They added the Haqqani network and Tehrik-e-Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) to the list of terror groups against whom they “called for concerted action”.
- President Trump announced that US International Development Finance Corporation will be establishing a permanent presence in India and America is committed to work with India to improve development.
Defence Deal:
- It was announced that India will purchase more than $3 billion of advanced American military equipment, including 24 multi-role MH-60 Romeo helicopters, through the Foreign Military Sale government-to-government route, and six Apache AH 64E Apache helicopters for the Army.
- The six choppers for the Army will be in addition to the 22 Apache helicopters that have already been ordered for the Air Force.
- The MH-60 Romeo Seahawk, made by Lockheed Martin, can not only track and hunt ships, but is also used by the US Navy as anti-submarine weapon.
