TIL Desk/World/Washington/ The United States Congress has passed the USD 716 billion defence spending bill which, among its many provisions, seeks to strengthen and enhance the country’s defence partnership with India. India was designated a major defence partner in 2016, towards the fag end of the Obama Administration’s tenure.
While the succeeding Trump Administration is moving ahead with its plans to implement the unique designation for India, the US Congress through its John S McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the 2019 fiscal, passed by 87 to 10 votes yesterday, seeks to give it a legislative cover.
The House had passed the bill last week. It now heads to the White House for President Donald Trump to sign it into law. In a joint conference report, which aligned the two different versions of the bill, the House and the Senate said the United States should strengthen and enhance its major defence partnership with India, and such a partnership should enable “strategic, operational and tactical coordination between our militaries, and be jointly developed between the countries”.
It also said the United States should work toward mutual security objectives by expanding engagement in multilateral frameworks, including the Quadrilateral Dialogue between the United States, India, Japan, and Australia, to promote regional security and defend shared values and common interests in the rules-based order.
