New Delhi: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday described India and the US as natural partners who must move forward in the strategic and business sectors amid the current global geopolitical scenario, while stressing that capital and technological know-how from the US can help India become a developed country by 2047 and in-bound investments can provide American companies high returns.

“India and the US support a free, open and rules-based international order. Due to this, there is a lot of alignment in our strategic interests. Besides, our economic relationship is a win-win proposition for both the countries. The current relationship is driven by the twin congruence of shared values and aligned interests, which is a guarantee for long sustainability and robustness of ties,” Singh said.

He was addressing a conference on Strengthening Indo-US Relationship in Amrit Kaal – Aatmanirbhar Bharat organised by Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC).

India-US cooperation would act as a force multiplier for the rules-based world order, the minister said.

“India is the largest democracy in the world, and US is another big democracy. When two big democracies cooperate, it will make the democratic world order stronger. This will act as a force multiplier for rules-based order across the globe. Our work together will be beneficial not only to us, but for the entire world.”

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The government has laid the groundwork for a strong and self-reliant ‘New India’, and the American investments can play a vital role in helping realise the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed India). Calling it a win-win situation for both countries, Singh said India’s fast-growing economy, its demographic dividend, skilled workforce, and huge domestic market guarantee high returns to US companies.

He said it will be necessary for American businesses to de-risk by investing in India to deal with the challenges faced by the rules-based international order.

In his address, Singh touched upon the cooperation between the two sides in a raft of areas including defence technology and space. He said the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) joint initiative will ensure cooperation in areas such as Earth science, disaster management and climate change.

NISAR is a low earth orbit observatory being jointly developed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to map the entire globe in 12 days and provide data for understanding changes in the Earth’s ecosystems, ice mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, ground water and natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.

The two sides will launch NISAR in the first quarter of 2024.

Speaking on the government’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative, Singh said steps taken to boost self-reliance were not aimed at cutting off the country from the global system, but were a commitment to collaborate with friendly nations.

“The Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflicts have not much impacted the defence sector. India has become a strong country, which is capable of securing national interests and giving a befitting reply to anyone who casts an evil eye.”

“We have made reforms in FDI and labour laws to attract foreign investment and take advantage of our skilled workforce. We are also working on next-generation infrastructure projects. Infra sectors like roads, railways, waterways and electricity have made unprecedented progress. India is developing a world class infrastructure,” he added.