HOUSTON: Houston, known as the world's energy capital, grabbed international headlines in 2019 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump addressed the historic "Howdy, Modi!" diaspora event that further cemented the Indo-US strategic ties and people-to-people contacts.
The unprecedented joint appearance by the leaders of the world's two major economies in America's oil and gas capital reflected a desire by Washington and New Delhi to deepen their bilateral energy cooperation.
Modi stopped in Houston, Texas, on September 22 on his way to New York to attend the annual UN General Assembly session and spoke to over 50,000 Indian-Americans, the largest ever gathering for an elected foreign leader on US soil.
Trump, who joined Modi at the rally held at the sprawling NRG Football stadium, emphasised his personal support for the prime minister and advocated a more pro-business and trade outlook in India as the underpinning of a stronger US-India partnership.
The two leaders also signed an agreement that would allow the US to export natural gas at a low cost to India.
Last year, the two sides signed a US-India Strategic Energy Partnership to enhance collaboration in this arena.
Both sides believe the full promise of energy trade remains unfulfilled and want to increase cooperation, particularly with respect to shale and liquefied natural (LNG) gas.
Sending a message of unity between the world's oldest and the largest democracies despite trade tensions, Trump highlighted the growth of US exports to India, the billions of dollars India is spending on US-made defence equipment and joint military exercises.
"India has never invested in the United States like it is doing today," President Trump said, adding that "we're doing the same thing" in India.
"These tremendous exports not only expand employment in America, they increase freedom and security for India," Trump said during his address at "Howdy Modi" rally.
Strategic importance of Houston for India is also because it is the fourth busiest gateway for trade between the US and India.
Houston enjoys its own unique relationship with India. India is Houston's 10th largest trading partner with USD 4.3 billion in trade. From 2017 to 2018 year to date, trade between Houston and India increased by 36 per cent. India is also the 6th largest buyer of US LNG.
According to data compiled by the city, more than 28 Houston-based companies operate 69 subsidiaries in India.
While most of the attention around Modi's visit was focused on a potential US-India trade breakthrough and the Kashmir impasse, the announcement of a significant energy MoU signed in the prime minister's presence was a significant step towards meeting India's growing energy needs.
Touted as one of the largest LNG deals in US history, Petronet LNG signed a USD 2.5 billion deal in Modi's presence, during a private ceremony, prior to the Howdy event, with energy giant Tellurian Inc., thus securing 18 per cent equity in the USD 28 billion Driftwood project in Louisiana to secure long-term gas imports.
"India is one of the fastest growth markets for LNG and should soon become the second-largest LNG importer," according to the Tellurian CEO Meg Gentle.
Petronet signed the initial agreement to secure this project in February.
Over the lifespan of the Driftwood project, this deal gives India access to 5 million metric tonnes of LNG per year.
As part of this whirlwind tour of Houston, Modi met with the CEOs of 16 energy companies, informing them of India cutting its corporate tax rate to 25 per cent from 35 per cent.
Despite threats by pro-Pakistan protestors, the "Howdy, Modi!" event went off smoothly.
A dedicated team, led by Indian Ambassador to the US, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Consulate General of India in Houston, 650 welcome partner organisations and 1,700 volunteers put together such an impactful event.
The unstinting cooperation from the local administration demonstrated the high level of goodwill shared between Indian-Americans and local officials.
According to Jagdeep Ahluwalia, founding secretary and executive director of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston, "the impact of the Howdy event was instant and palpable and its ripples could be felt across America and the world."
Houston's influence as an important city on the global platform is clearly growing, proved only by the increasing high-level visits by Indian ministers, bureaucrats and trade organizations, Ahluwalia said.
"Howdy Modi event highlighted the power of Indian-Americans in terms of a strong successful immigrant community and displayed on world stage that US-India friendship is based on democracy, burgeoning economy, and more importantly, common bond to fight terror," said Partha Chatterjee, Director energy trading & risk technology for global LNG at Shell trading and supply.
Akhilesh Amar, who was the force behind 1,700 volunteers, said that the event was an opportunity to cement Indo-US relationship and set the foundation for bigger and better things to come.
McDermott International CEO David Dickson, who participated in CEO's roundtable, expects demand for petrochemicals and polymers in India to grow this year by 9 and 10 per cent, respectively.