The United States said Feb. 8 an end to export restrictions for India's defense and space industries would help ramp up military trade with the South Asian country. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke said U.S. officials would hold talks Feb. 9 with state-run Indian firms which were previously on a so-called U.S. "entities list," which barred them from importing critical technologies. Nine Indian defense and space research firms were unshackled last month from the restrictions - imposed as a penalty on India for its 1998 nuclear tests.
"These are the first steps to relax U.S. export partnership as we are eager to help India meet its ambitious goals" of self-reliance, Locke said in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.
"We are bringing in some of the top U.S. technology companies and we will be having discussions. We believe this is a signal of better and stronger cooperation for years to come," Locke told reporters.
Sixty-three U.S. defense and aeronautical firms are among 675 companies from 45 countries participating in South Asia's largest air show, which kicks off on Feb. 9 in Bangalore.
The groups removed from the U.S. blacklist included the Indian Space Research Organization, which leads India's space program, and the weapon-designing Defense Research and Development Organization.
U.S. President Barack Obama announced on a visit to India last November that he was easing the restrictions.
U.S.-based Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. are vying for a $12 billion Indian contract for 126 war jets, and top officials accompanying Locke said the fighter jets would be fitted with the latest U.S. technology.
"We have agreed to an unprecedented level of technology transfer to India, and we can go even further," said Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs.
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