Blinken talks of ‘reducing strategic dependencies’ ahead of Modi visit

Continued from Page 1 a dialogue that was flagged off by Prime Minister Modi and President Joe Biden in 2022 and fast-tracked by the two sides in a meeting of National Security Advisers Ajit Doval and Jake Sullivan earlier this year. This engagement contains the promise of the next big outcome in the relationship, which could be announced during Modi's visit later in June: joint production of US giant General Electric's jet engines in India. India currently uses GE jet engines delivered ready for use.

Expanding on the theme of "reducing strategic dependencies", the top US diplomat spoke of cooperation between the two sides on semiconductors and solar power equipment, the two areas on which the United States has been cutting its dependence on China, specially after disruption caused by Covid-19. "My friend and colleague Secretary of Commerce (Gina) Rimondo and her counterpart Minister (Piyush) Goyal, recently established a partnership to make our semiconductor supply chains more resilient." He went on to talk about US investment in a solar manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu.

"It will shift a key component of our clean energy supply chains to a close partner. That's what we mean when we say we are building more resilient, more diversified supply chains," he added.

Secretary Blinken did not say the US has expectations of India on "reducing strategic dependencies", but it could be an acknowledgement and acceptance of India's dependence on Russian oil, which it has been