India and US sign a MoU to connect startups in emerging technologies

India and the US have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to connect the startup ecosystems of both countries, specifically in Critical and Emerging Technologies (CET). The MoU is called 'Enhancing Innovation Ecosystems through an Innovation Handshake' and was signed by Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal during his 4-day US visit. Minister Goyal also had a bilateral meeting with his US counterpart, Gina Raimondo, on the sidelines of the IPEF Ministerial Meeting to discuss the growing commercial cooperation and business engagement between India and the US.

During his visit to the United States, Piyush Goyal co-chaired an industry roundtable with Raimondo titled 'Decoding the Innovation Handshake: US-India Entrepreneurship Partnership'. In this roundtable, CEOs of various Information Communication Technology (ICT) companies, startups, and investors in critical and emerging technology discussed ways to enhance US-India technology collaboration. Moreover, India signed the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) supply chain resilience agreement along with the United States and 12 other IPEF partners. Goyal said that this agreement will "fortify and strengthen" global supply chains.

India and the US are among the 14 supply chain resilience partners of IPEF along with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. This global supply chain resilience agreement is seen as a counter to reducing massive reliance on China, particularly after severe supply disruptions after the COVID-19 shock.

The IPEF partners have proposed an agreement to establish a framework for better understanding significant supply chain risks and improving crisis coordination and response to supply chain disruptions. The agreement aims to ensure that businesses, especially micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, and workers benefit from resilient, robust, and efficient supply chains. It also aims to ensure the availability of a sufficient number of skilled workers in critical sectors and key goods by upskilling and reskilling workers, among others.

To achieve a more resilient future, Union Minister Goyal expressed his gratitude to his US counterpart, Gina Raimondo, for her leadership and personal commitment. During an interactive session held in San Francisco as part of his US tour, the Minister engaged in wide-ranging discussions with participants. The Indian government has taken several steps to make it easier to do business. He has already held several bilateral meetings with counterparts from different countries.

The Commerce and Industry minister kicked off his US official tour with a visit to the Tesla Factory Unit in Fremont and interacted with the senior executives of the Tesla group. Tesla CEO Elon Musk had in June this year said that he was planning to visit India next year, adding that he was confident that the electric carmaker would be in India and would do so "as soon as humanly possible".