July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s first trip to India opened the door for $20 billion in U.S. defense and nuclear energy sales, while making little headway on bridging divides over climate change and arms control.
Clinton’s three-day visit -- her longest to any nation as the chief U.S. diplomat -- was billed as an opportunity to upgrade cooperation with the world’s largest democracy and one of its fastest-growing economies.
The two governments established a Cabinet-level “strategic dialogue” on agriculture, trade, energy, education and homeland security, a mechanism designed to “broaden and deepen” ties and encourage India to help solve global problems, Clinton said yesterday.
Most significant among yesterday’s agreements was an accord to monitor the use and any attempted resale of U.S. defense technology and equipment, a requirement under the U.S. Arms Export Control Act of 1996. India’s approval of the provision removed a barrier to American military exports.
Lockheed Martin Corp., based in Bethesda, Maryland, and Boeing Co. of Chicago are among companies competing for $11 billion in fighter-jet orders from India, the largest defense contract in play worldwide.
India also used the final day of the Clinton visit to designate two sites for U.S.-built nuclear power plants in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, part of an agreement negotiated by former President George W. Bush on civilian nuclear power.
GE, Westinghouse
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, a subsidiary of Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric Co., and Monroeville, Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse Co., a subsidiary of Tokyo’s Toshiba Corp., would be among the companies bidding for nuclear energy contracts worth at least $10 billion. More than 30 U.S. nuclear-industry suppliers have expressed interest.
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