India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) and U.S. President Barack Obama (R) make remarks to reporters after their meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. June 7, 2016.
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Obama said during brief remarks after their meeting that “We discussed the progress that we have made around civil nuclear energy and I indicated our support for India becoming part of the nuclear suppliers group”, referring an global group that works to prevent proliferation by controlling exports and transfers of nuclear material.
“The leaders reiterated the importance they attach to ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight and exploitation of resources as per worldwide law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and settlement of territorial disputes by peaceful means”, said the Indo-US joint statement on Tuesday.
In the joint agreement, the USA and India also reaffirmed their commitments to the Paris climate agreement.
“Once completed, the project would be among the largest of its kind”, it added. “India similarly has begun its processes to work toward this shared objective”. Mr. Obama can commit the U.S.to the goals without congressional approval, while Mr. Modi needs his Cabinet to sanction the deal. “And the traditional tools of military, intelligence or diplomacy alone would not be able to win this fight”, Modi told a rare joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives. “It’s basically two friends, the United States and India, the two largest democracies in the world, getting together to show that our relationship is getting stronger”, he said.
The U.S. and India released a joint agreement Tuesday expressing support for the project in the Indian state of Gujarat.
The accord seeks to implement new restrictions if 55 nations, accounting for at least 55 percent of the world’s emissions, sign the deal. Following their lunch, Obama also made the rare appearance in seeing the Prime Minister off to his auto and waving from the West Wing.
In support of India’s Make in India initiative and to support the development of robust defense industries and their integration into the global supply chain, the statement said the U.S. will continue to facilitate the export of goods and technologies, consistent with U.S. law, for projects, programs and joint ventures in support of official U.S. -India defense cooperation.
Modi exuded confidence that Indo-US partnership would benefit both the countries. He said the planned reactor purchases would mark new era in nuclear and scientific cooperation.
In a significant development, India and United States have agreed in principle to officially start engineering and site design work for the establishment of six AP1000 nuclear power plant reactors in Andhra Pradesh, India.
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Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, who recently visited India, said the congressional address and Modi’s meetings with lawmakers will carry an important message.
