Remarks by President Biden and Prime Minister Modi of the Republic of India in Joint Press Conference

Press Conference

Please, be seated. Thank you.

Well, good afternoon. The Prime Minister and I have just finished a very productive meeting.

And the Prime Minister -- I know you've got to get up to Capitol Hill very soon and -- to address the Joint Session of Congress.

It's a testament to the strong and enduring and thoroughly bipartisan support that exists all across the United States for the friendship and partnership between India and the United States that the -- they're anxiously waiting to hear you up on Capitol Hill.

A partnership that is among the most consequential in the world, that is stronger, closer, and more dynamic than any time in history.

Mr. Prime Minister, we've met many times over the past few years, most recently in Hiroshima at the G7 Summit. And each time, I was struck by our ability to find new areas of cooperation.

Together, we're unlocking a shared future of what I believe to be unlimited potential.

And with this visit, we're demonstrating once more how India and the United States are collaborating on nearly every human endeavor and delivering progress across the board, for -- from designing new ways to diagnose and treat illnesses like cancer and diabetes; to collaborating on human spaceflight including sending an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station in 2024; to accelerating the global clean energy transition and tackling climate -- the climate crisis we face; to harnessing our shared expertise on critical and emerging technologies like quantum computing and artificial intelligence to ensuring they are not used as tools of misinformation and oppression.

We are doubling down on our cooperation to secure our semicondector [sic] -- our semiconductor supply chains, advancing Open RAN telecommunications networks, and growing our Major Defense Partnership with the more joint exercises, more cooperation between our defense industries, and more consultation and coordination across all domains.

Our economic relationship is booming. Trade between our countries has almost doubled over the past decade to more than $191 billion, supporting tens of thousands of good jobs in both India and the United States.

Add to that: One million American jobs across 44 states will by supported by the purchase of more than 200 -- more than 200 American-made Boeing aircraft by -- that Air India is announcing earlier this year.

And with this visit, Indian firms are announcing more than $2 billion -- more than $2 billion in new investments in manufacturing -- in solar in Colorado, steel in Ohio, and optic fiber in South Carolina, and much more. Further proof that America's manufacturing is back.

We're expanding educational exchanges for our students, building on the record 125,000 student visas for Indians to study in the United States we issued last year and opening new consulates that's going to make it easier for our people to travel, work, and collaborate together.

On the issues that matter most and that will define the future, our nations look to one another, including on critical regional and global issues.

And today, we also talked about our shared efforts to mitigate the huma- -- the humanitarian tragedies unleashed by Russia's brutal war in Ukraine and to defend the core principles of the U.N. Charter: sovereignty and territorial integrity.

We discussed our work through the Quad and how India and the United States, together with Australia and Japan, can ensure the vital Indo-Pacific region remains free, open, prosperous, and secure.

Through our new I2U2 groun- -- grouping with Israel and the UAE, we're building regional connections to the Middle East and spurring science-based solutions and -- to the global challenges, like food security and clean energy.

And this year, under India's leadership of the G20, we're putting sustainable development at the center of the agenda.

We're delivering meaningful action on low- and middle-income nations, including multilateral development bank reform, debt relief, and building resilient and equitable health systems.

The bottom line is simple: We want people everywhere to have the opportunity to live in dignity.

And let me be -- close with this: Indians and Americans are both peoples who innovate and create, turn obstacles into opportunities, who find strength in community and family, and who cherish freedom and celebrate the democratic values of universal human rights, which face challenges around the world and each -- and in each of our countries but which remain so vital to the success of each of our nations: press freedom, religious freedom, tolerance, diversity.
India now has the most populous country -- is now the most populous country in the world. It's a democracy. We understand that it is -- has -- it is the brilliance and the backbone of our people as diverse in talents and traditions that make us strong as a nation. It's democracies that do that.

We see that so clearly here in the United States where a vibrant Indian American community of more than 4 million strong contributes every single day to the writing of the future of our nation.

Indian Americans of every background and faith, representing the full diversity of India, are pursuing their American dream while maintaining deep connections for their Indian heritage and families.

That -- that makes us all stronger. That is a cornerstone
of this essential partnership between India and the United States. And that is why I know the friendship between our nations is only going to grow as we face the future together.

Mr. Prime Minister, the floor is yours.

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Well, the Congress is actually waiting to -- and anxiously waiting to hear you.

I'm told there are two questioners: Sabrina from the Wall Street Journal and Kumar from the Trust of India.

And, Sabrina, you first.

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The answer to your first question is: No. You know, what -- when we're talking to our allies and partners around the world, including India, we let the -- the idea of my choosing and avoiding saying what I think is the facts with regard to the relationship with India -- with China is -- is just not something I'm going to change very much.

I think we -- I believe that -- and I've said this for some time -- that the hysteria about the relationship with China is collapsing and moving, et cetera, et cetera -- we had an incident that caused some -- some confusion, you might say. But President -- but Secretary Blinken had a great trip to China. I expect to be meeting with President Xi sometime in the future, in the near term. And I don't think it's had any real consequence.

And what was your second question?

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Well, look, the Prime Minister and I had a good discussion about democratic values. And -- and there is a -- there is the -- that's the nature of our relationship: We're straightforward with each other, and -- and we respect each other.

One of the fundamental reasons that I believe the U.S.-China relationship is not in the space it is with the U.S.- Indian relationship is that there's an overwhelming respect for each other because we're both democracies. And it's a common democratic candida- -- character of both our countries that -- and our people -- our diversity; our culture; our open, tolerant, robust debate.

And I believe that we believe in the dignity of every citizen. And it is in America's DNA and, I believe, in India's DNA that the whole world -- the whole world has a stake in our success, both of us, in maintaining our democracies. It makes us appealing partners and enables us to expand democratic institutions across -- around the world. And I believe this, and I still believe this.

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Kumar.

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Tackle what?

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Climate change. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.

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Well, first of all, I think it is the existential threat to humanity: climate change. It's the most serious problem we face as human beings. We have to keep it below 1.5 degrees Cel- -- Celsius.

We've made enormous progress here in the United States on dealing with this issue by doing three things.

Number one, by insisting that we move our -- every one of our industries into a position where they can take advantage of cheaper and more extensive and more available renewable energy, whether it's solar or wind or hydrogen and green hydrogen. There's a whole range of things we've been working on.

In addition to that, we find ourselves in a position that -- what we've done is that we have significantly reduced the -- for example, I made a commitment that we are going to make sure that by 2030, 30 percent of all our land and sea and oceans were -- are -- were in conservation, could not be developed.

We're well on our way to doing that. And that's also absorbing carbon from the air as a consequence of that, because of the conservation.

We are in a position, as well, by -- we have provided for significant increase in funding for a whole range of issues, but not just for the United States, but for the rest of the world.

For example, we're working with the G7 to provide for infrastructure work for commu- -- for dealing with global warming on the continent of Africa: in Angola, building the largest solar project; moving ourselves -- having railway to go all the way across the southern two thir- -- the -- from the Atlantic Ocean to the -- to the Indian Ocean, in Africa, to be able to transport and do it cheaper and do it with less -- less -- how can I say it? -- less carbon emissions.

We're trying to work with other countries to maintain their -- maintain their carbon sinks so they don't have to develop them like we did and causing pollution. And we're trying to figure out how to work out to pay them not to develop certain areas, like the Amazon in Brazil.

But there's a lot of technology that's available that we're sharing, and we share with one another. We've learned how to do solar energy, which is considerably cheaper than it is to -- for -- for fuel -- for fossil fuels. The same way dealing with not just solar, but dealing with wind.

And so, there's a lot of the technology that we've developed. And -- and we're well on our way, I think, to meeting the commitment we made to -- that we made in Paris. And I -- and we're prepared to share all of that with India, that has a desire to do the same.

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Let me add one thing. We -- we have caused damage in the United States the way we developed over the last 300 years. And that's why I was able to convince my colleagues in the Congress to pass legislation -- the largest climate fund ever in American -- in the world history: $369 billion -- $369 billion to deal with the climate crisis.

And we are doing it extensively now, and I think you're going to see significant progress.

Thank you all very, very much.

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