By Lalit K JhaWashington, Dec 8 (PTI) With India enjoying the status asa Major Defense Partner of the US, it is time the two nations"go big" and launch a "large signature programme" that wouldbind Indian and American industries and bureaucracies togetherfor years to come, according to former US Ambassador to IndiaRichard Verma.
When India was given an elevated and truly unique statusin terms of defense trade in 2016, he said the fundamentalpremise was that India would be treated as the closest friendand ally for purposes of technology transfer.
"We need to follow through on any export control reformmatters that prevent this vision from becoming a reality, butI would like to see even bigger advancements under thisrubric," he said.
In the closing months of the Obama Administration, the USput two big ideas on the table - a future ground combatvehicle and a new advanced vertical lift helicopter, which, hetermed, would be "outstanding" projects to pursue.
"Also, a partnership to build India's next aircraftcarrier. Whatever the project is, I think it's time to go bigand I'm confident we can get there," the former top USdiplomat said at the Wilson Center, America's key non-partisanpolicy forum.
"In the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI), Ido think it's time to launch a new, large signature programmethat binds our two industries and bureaucracies together foryears to come," added.
The DTTI broadly aims to transform the bilateral defenserelationship, strengthen India's defense industrial base andexplore new areas of technological collaboration from scienceand technology cooperation through co-development and co-production.
Verma said that he thinks that it was time to enshrine asa matter of US policy, that it is in our collective securityinterests, to ensure India has the capabilities it needs toprevail in contested domains – whether that be on land, air orsea.
We do this with our friends from Israel, who areguaranteed a "qualitative military edge" he said, adding thatit is also time for India to do the same.
"This would, of course, require some reciprocalobligations from India – sharing of information, signing offoundational agreements, undertaking greater burden sharing,"Verma said.
Quickly clarifying that nothing he was suggesting wouldbe in violation of India's concerns about sovereignty, he saidthat "in fact, what I am suggesting would empower India as alead actor across the Indo-Pacific and help take our securitypartnership to the next level".
Advocating comprehensive movement in building economiclinkages and trade architecture between the two nations, hesaid the goal of USD 500 billion bilateral trade, at thecurrent pace would take nearly a century.
"I don't want to wait that long."He said India has been out negotiating and renegotiatingtrade agreements with Japan, Korea, Canada, ASEAN, the EU, andseveral other nations.
"These range from comprehensive trade agreements tobilateral investment treaties. Whatever form it takes, we needto put something back on the table to further merge, link andharmonise our two economies.
"The goal should be increased investments, market access,trade, the building of robust innovation ecosystems and mostimportantly job creation – the component that both ourcountries need the most," he said.
Cautioning Washington that they should not forget, Indiahas choices too, Verma said, "We should not presume that wewill always be the most favoured or largest trading partner.
This is something that we have to work at, and it will requirethe full array of our government agencies and subject matterexperts."He said that there was a need to fully back US diplomats,development experts and civilians from across the agenciesthat do such important work abroad.
"The cuts to the State Department and its budget,along with the civilian hiring freeze, are self-inflictedwounds that will harm our ability over the long-term tocompete across Asia, including in India," Verma rued.
The former US Ambassador to India said that theunderlying foundations of the relationship remain strong – thebipartisan consensus remains intact and US-India ties have notonly have weathered this time of global uncertainty, but alsocontinue to serve as a source of great stability.
"New initiatives like the quad, the 2+2 dialogue, and anupdated South Asia strategy bode well for the year ahead," hesaid. PTI LKJ SMJ AKJSMJ.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.