PM Modi Talks Tech In USA

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on an official visit to the US, began his engagements on Thursday by meeting with leading American CEOs from five different key sectors and highlighted the economic opportunities in India. 

Prime Minister Modi first met Christiano R. Amon, President and CEO, Qualcomm and highlighted the vast opportunities India offers. "Amon expressed keenness to work with India in areas such as 5G and other Digital India efforts," tweeted Prime Minister's Office (PMO) 

After the meeting,  Christiano R. Amon while interacting with the media discussed the key points of the meeting. "It was a great meeting. We're so proud of a partnership with India. We talked about 5G & its acceleration. We talked about an incredible opportunity to advance the industry not only domestically in India but India as export of technology," Amon said.

Amon said that the Prime Minister also discussed semiconductors and spoke on the opportunity to continue to build an incredible mobile ecosystem developing in India. "We're happy with everything we're doing together with India," he added.

Amon also acknowledged that the approach to driving economic growth in making India a destination for investment has been very successful.

PM Modi stressed that India has the scale for ambitious projects and has prepared 5G standards & urged Qualcomm to actively participate as they did in the case of NAVIK. He also said that since Qualcomm has trusted Indian talent already, it can start manufacturing with the advantage the PLI scheme offers.

In another meeting, Mark Widmar, CEO, First Solar, shared plans to use PLI scheme for manufacturing solar power equipment with unique thin-film technology and integrating India into global supply chains. PM Modi also elaborated on India's efforts to harness solar energy, including the 'One world, One sun and One grid' initiative and investment opportunities in the sector. 

Mark Widmar while interacting with the media after the meeting said, "clearly with his leadership & what he's done to create a really strong balance b/w industrial policy as well as trade policy, it makes it an ideal opportunity for companies like First Solar to establish manufacturing in India."

PM while meeting Mark Widmar, CEO, First Solar. Source: PMO

Prime Minister Modi also met Adobe CEO, Shantanu Narayen and discussed Adobe’s ongoing activities in India and future investment plans. Ideas to leverage Digital India flagship programme in sectors like health, education and R&D were also discussed.

Shantanu Narayen while interacting with media after the meeting said that it has always been such a pleasure to hear about Prime Minister Modi's vision for how he wants to expand India. "Among the key topics we talked about was continued investment in innovation and Prime Minister Modi believes that technology is the way to help things move forward." he said.

PM while meeting Adobe CEO, Shantanu Narayen. Source: PMO

PM Modi and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen also held discussions over leveraging technology to provide smart education to youngsters, enhance research and the vibrant start-up sector in India, powered by the Indian youth.

Acknowledging the National Education Policy, Narayen said, "For us, our biggest asset is people. Anything that happens with respect to encouraging education, having digital literacy helps Adobe. We're very supportive of more emphasis & interest in education."

Prime Minister Modi also held a meeting with Vivek Lall, CEO of General Atomics and discussed advancing defence manufacturing, use of emerging technologies & augmenting capacity building in India.

Prime Minister Modi will have his first face-to-face meeting with President Joe Biden and his deputy Kamala Harris and will also attend the maiden in-person Quad summit and address the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

(With inputs from agencies)