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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the foundations of American democracy in an address to a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, emphasizing the importance of the partnership between the world’s two biggest democracies on a day of summitry that mixed geopolitics and commercial opportunity.
“Together we shall give a better future to the world and a better world to the future,” Mr. Modi said to rousing bipartisan applause in remarks highlighting a state visit that many in Washington hope will foster closer U.S.-India coordination while countering an increasingly aggressive China.
The centerpiece of Mr. Modi’s four-day U.S. trip Thursday included talks and a rare press conference at the White House with President Biden, the speech to a joint meeting of Congress and a full-on state dinner for the visiting Indian leader back at the White House.
Mr. Modi made no explicit mention of China in his nearly hour-long speech to lawmakers, delivered in English on Thursday afternoon, although he signaled his agreement with U.S. concern over Beijing’s growing push for economic and political dominance over smaller nations of Asia and beyond.
“We share a vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific,” the Indian prime minister said, adding that the “common vision” of U.S. and Indian democracy is one “free of domination,” where “all nations, small and large, are free and fearless in their choices.”
Mr. Modi, who similarly addressed Congress after a warm visit with former President Trump in 2016, added that “together we shall demonstrate that democracy is better, and democracies deliver.”
Administration officials said the White House meetings were capped by a slate of new agreements aimed at expanding trade, high-tech and defense cooperation between Washington and New Delhi, which maintain close geopolitical ties but are not technically allies due to India’s historical resistance to military treaty alliances with any nation.
Talk of irritants in the relationship — including India’s close military relationship with Russia, its refusal to endorse Western condemnations of the invasion of Ukraine, and the human rights record of Mr. Modi’s strongly Hindu nationalist government — were kept to a minimum.
Among the agreements in the works Thursday was one to allow U.S.-based General Electric to partner with India-based Hindustan Aeronautics to produce jet engines for Indian aircraft in India and the sale of U.S.-made armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones, according to senior Biden administration officials.
Officials also touted plans to bolster India’s microchip industry amid the administration’s push to diversify U.S. supply chains and manufacturing bases for high-tech products away from China, with U.S.-based Micron Technology agreeing to put up nearly a third of the investment to build a new $2.75 billion semiconductor assembly and test facility in Mr. Modi’s home state in India.
U.S.-based Applied Materials is also expected to launch a new semiconductor center for commercialization and innovation in India, and Lam Research, another semiconductor manufacturing equipment company, will start a training program for 60,000 Indian engineers, officials said.
On the space front, India will sign on to the Artemis Accords, a blueprint for space exploration cooperation among nations participating in NASA’s lunar exploration plans. NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization also agreed to make a joint mission to the International Space Station next year.
