After a rather jubilant welcome from more than 100,000 people at India’s Sardar Patel Stadium, also known as the Motera Stadium, both Modi and Trump shared their plans for future collaborations between the two countries.
The two confirmed a co-operation in fighting Islamist terrorism and expanding energy partnerships as well as working together to make ‘safer’ 5G technology. As part of the deals announced, US firm Exxon Mobil and Indian Oil have signed an agreement to help India import more Liquefied Natural Gas (LPG).
Forming part of the Trump’s entourage for the trip was the FCC’s Ajit Pai who visited with the country’s telecoms secretary Anshu Prakash and Trai chairman R.S. Sharma to discuss IT and telecoms related issued relevant to both countries.
In a Tweet posted before the trip, Pai said in a promotional video: “We will be discussing issues of mutual interest like 5G and bridging the digital divide and we will aim to deepen the friendship between the world’s oldest democracy and its largest."
Though no details of the meetings were shared, sources told India News that talks touched on 5G services and technology, and IoT, particularly its relation to agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare and education.
The news follows India’s department of telecommunications approving the process for its 5G spectrum auction due to take place in April. 6,050MHz have been allocated for 5G with the 3,300-3,600MHz band priced at ₹492 crore per MHz.
In addition to the technology discussions, Trump said that the US and India were close to signing a deal worth $3 billion in US military helicopters.
“I believe that the United States should be India’s premier defence partner,” said Trump. “The deal would include procurement of 24 MH-60 Romeo helicopters by India. Another contract to acquire six AH-64E Apache helicopters," he said.
“I am optimistic that working together, the prime minister and I can reach a fantastic deal that is good and even great for both of our countries.” However, he also indicated that the two countries were in the “early stages” of discussions.
