As a follow-up on the joint statement, AMCHAM held a closed-door roundtable with Mr. Ricky Gill, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Senior Director for South and Central Asia, National Security Council, The White House, at the Lockheed Martin office in New Delhi on March 18th.  Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM welcomed participants and set the tone for the interaction. In his opening remarks, Mr. Salil Gupte, Chairman, AMCHAM and President, Boeing India & South Asia referred to the joint statement as a to-do list that industry can help accomplish. In his remarks, Mr. Ricky Gill shared about leveraging commercial diplomacy, prioritization of the Indo-Pacific, opportunities in the energy sector, the strength of the US-India defense partnership and desire to bring the economic side of the relationship up in equilibrium. He shared about COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology), TRUST (Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology) initiative and Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA).

Mr. William Blair, VP & Regional Chief Executive, Asia & India, Lockheed Martin, thanked the USG visitors and highlighted defense sector opportunities. AMCHAM’s Chairman, Mr. Salil Gupte, moderated the interaction focused on opportunities across defense, energy, cyber security, ICT and healthcare to strengthen the U.S.-India economic partnership. Members shared about indigenous content requirements, gas pipelines, the re-gasification process, testing and certifications requirements in the IT sector, undersea cables, public procurement challenges, harmonization of standards and market access hindrances for healthcare products, amongst other topics. From the U.S. government, the following joined the meeting: Mr. Seamas Whitesel, Director for South Asia Regional Affairs, National Security Council, The White House, Captain Chad Gagnon, Honorary USG Chair – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Chief, Office of Defense Cooperation, U.S. Embassy, Mr. Daniel McIntosh, Political Officer, U.S. Embassy, Mr. Michael Cramer, Political Officer, U.S. Embassy and Mr. Aamod Omprakash, Cyber and Digital Policy Officer, U.S. Embassy.

Mr. Chaitanya Sarawate, Vice Chairman, AMCHAM and President & CEO, GE HealthCare South Asia gave the concluding remarks. Mr. Gill and Mr. Whitesel were presented with AMCHAM’s recently released whitepaper on ‘Securing the Digital Future: Strengthening Cybersecurity in ICT Through U.S.-India Partnership’ which examines the evolving cyber security landscape and strategic collaboration between the United States and India in addressing shared cyber threats. Representatives from Amazon, Amazon Web Services, BAE Systems India (Services), Bausch & Lomb, Boeing Defense, Space & Security, ExxonMobil, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Pratt & Whitney and RTX participated.