The US House of Representatives has presented legislation to abolish high-tech export hurdles to India and increase unfettered sale of sensitive technologies to the nation. This comes as US Vice President Joe Biden traveled to New Delhi for the G20 Summit. On Friday, he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Following the meeting, the two presidents pledged to enhance and diversify their bilateral major military relationship, according to a joint statement.
On Friday, Congressman Gregory Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Congressman Andy Barr, Vice Chair of the House India Caucus, submitted legislation named the “Technology Exports to India Act,” according to PTI. The measure is intended to simplify the procedure of exporting high-performance computers and related equipment to India, with the purpose of increasing bilateral technological cooperation.
“As President Biden visits India for the G-20 Summit, we are happy to introduce the ‘Technology Exports to India Act’ to bolster technology cooperation between the United States and India,” the two lawmakers said in a joint statement, as per the news agency.
“This bill removes restrictions on the sale of US products, such as digital computers and electronic assemblies, to India without a Department of Commerce license, thereby enhancing US-India technology trade, linkages between our technology companies, and supply chain resilience for a critical industry,” they wrote.
“In light of the further strengthening of our strategic partnership with India, this legislative change reduces regulatory barriers to technology cooperation,” the statement added.
According to the law, Congress believes that closer defense and technical collaboration with India is essential to resolving shared geopolitical and security issues. As a result, it’s critical to lower regulatory obstacles to technical collaboration with India in ways that promote strategic interests and strengthen national security.
It further states that President Biden’s ability to sell high-performance computers to India would strengthen technical collaboration between the two countries and show Congress’s support for India as a strategic ally.
To strengthen the bilateral connection, the bill requests to remove India from the list of “Computer Tier 3” qualified nations included in section 740.7(d) of chapter 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
As of right now, section 1211 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 requires permission from the US government before exporting high-performance computers to India that meet particular requirements. Once approved by Congress, the law will provide the US President the power to remove India from the list of nations eligible for Computer Tier 3 assistance, which will streamline the procedure.
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