Pence, Jaishankar to deliver address on India-US ties at leadership summit

US Vice President Mike Pence along with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will deliver a major address on India-US relationship during a virtual leadership summit that will discuss enhancing economic and strategic collaboration between the two countries.

Titled ''US-India Week: Navigating New Challenges'', the summit is being organised by business advocacy group US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) from August 31- September 3.

“We are honoured and delighted to have Vice President Pence join us for our summit — a exceptional instance of the deepening commitment of the administration towards India and the Indo-Pacific region,” USISPF president Mukesh Aghi said on Tuesday.

“At a time of tremendous geo-economic and geo-political disruption, a lot is riding on the success and vitality of the US-India bilateral relationship,” he said.

The week-long third leadership summit of USISPF will discuss enhancing economic and strategic collaboration between the US and India during a transformative period for the global economy.

“Our week-long conversation during the US-India week highlights the depth and breadth of the partnership as well as the urgency to build a strong architecture for the bilateral ties by consistently building on existing areas of collaboration — from defence to energy, agriculture and healthcare — but also with an eye towards the future to deepen collaboration in areas such as biosecurity, 5G, artificial intelligence, and startups,” Aghi said.

Among other high-ranking US and Indian government officials participating at the leadership summit include: Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry; Kenneth Juster, US Ambassador to India and his Indian counterpart Taranjit Singh Sandhu; and Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog.

Adam Boehler, CEO, US International Development Finance Corporation; Dr. Indu Bhushan, CEO, Ayushman Bharat; Neil Chatterjee, Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Dr R A Mashelkar, Chairman, National Innovation Foundation; and Dr K V Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor are also scheduled to address the summit.

The summit will highlight areas of bilateral cooperation: trade and investment; strategic energy ties; India’s position in global supply chains, collaboration in fintech, healthcare, and technology, the media release said.