‘Talent-technology guarantees brighter future’: PM Modi at CEOs meet in US

The coming together of talent and technology guarantees a brighter future, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Hi-Tech Handshake event with top CEOs of the US and India at the White House on Friday.

Modi’s meeting comes on the final day of his state visit marked by pledges of deeper US-India cooperation on areas including space, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

President Joe Biden rolled out the red carpet for Modi on Thursday, declaring after about 2 -1/2 hours of talks that their countries’ economic relationship was “booming.” Trade has more than doubled over the past decade.

Modi continued talks with top US officials during a lunch at the State Department with Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Asian American to hold the No 2 position in the White House, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The CEOs of top American companies, including FedEx, MasterCard and Adobe, and representatives of Indian companies such as Tech Mahindra and Mastek were among the participants.

Modi, who touted “a new chapter” in the countries’ “strategic partnership” at the White House on Thursday, is seeking to position India, the world’s most populous country at 1.4 billion and its fifth-largest economy, as a manufacturing and diplomatic powerhouse.

Washington wants Delhi to be a strategic counterweight to China, and deals announced this week included several investments from U.S.-firms aimed at spurring semiconductor manufacturing in India and lowering its dependence on China for electronics.

The White House also announced plans to cooperate on quantum computing, scientific research and technological innovation, alongside plans to manufacture weapons in India.