US Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton B Carter concludes India visit

U.S. Ambassador to India Nancy Powell (left) and Hyderabad Consul General Katherine Dhanani (right) look on as Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter greets B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director of Infotech Enterprises in Hyderabad on July 24.

New Delhi/Hyderabad: As part of his first official trip to the Asia-Pacific region as Deputy Secretary of Defense, Dr. Ashton B. Carter visited India July 22-25.  During this visit, he discussed with key Government of India officials and defense industry leaders how the United States and India can work more closely together to ensure security and prosperity in the 21st century.

Deputy Secretary Carter’s meetings followed through on Secretary Panetta’s visit to India last month when the Secretary made clear that we must work to deepen our security partnership – so that our relationship becomes more strategic, more practical, and more collaborative.  One of Secretary Panetta’s initiatives that Deputy Secretary Carter discussed in New Delhi was further leading an effort, along with Indian counterparts in the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of External Affairs, to make our respective bureaucratic processes simpler, more responsive, and more effective to increase defense trade and cooperation. 

The Deputy Secretary also met with Indian defense industry executives in Hyderabad to discuss practical next steps for streamlining bureaucratic barriers in both the U.S. and India.  He toured several promising Indo-U.S. facilities co-producing transport plane and helicopter components.

As reaffirmed during the recent June 2012 U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue, the defense relationship between our two countries is an important dimension of our strategic partnership.  The United States is committed to finding innovative ways to increase our defense cooperation with India and to identify opportunities to take an already strong defense relationship to the next level.  Deputy Secretary Carter’s visit reinforced the message that our countries have crossed a threshold in our relations where our successes at home and abroad are strengthened by our defense cooperation, and that there is greater potential and areas of cooperation that can be tapped in the overall U.S.-India partnership.