U.S. and India Agree on Science Cooperation

The United States and India agreed to all provisions of an umbrella Science and Technology Cooperation (S&T) Agreement between the two countries prior to Indian Prime Minister Singh’s state visit on July 18, 2005. The designation of a signing opportunity is underway. The landmark agreement will increase cooperation in many technical fields of mutual interest and benefit to India and the United States.

In 1993, the United States and India entered into negotiations for a bilateral S&T agreement that, unfortunately, ceased a year later because the two parties could not agree on intellectual property rights (IPR) provisions. Nonetheless, both the United States and India realized that the current rapidly growing relationship between their countries and the extensive set of technical areas of mutual interest and capabilities made an S&T agreement imperative. The United States proposed a new umbrella S&T agreement to the Government of India in November 2004 that culminated in this new agreement. Cooperation between Indian and U.S. scientists in government agencies, private sector, and academia is expected to accelerate in such areas as: basic sciences, space, energy, nanotechnology, health, and information technology that will advance scientific understanding and benefit all our peoples. The agreement incorporates IPR and other provisions necessary to carry on substantive cooperative activity between the two countries, and complements the activity of the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum by facilitating follow-on technical collaborations.