US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti and USTDA Director Enoh T. Ebong. / X/@USTDA_Director

The United States is in a unique position to provide assistance to India, whose aviation sector is expected to experience significant growth in the years ahead, according to United States Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti.

Addressing a press conference during the recently concluded 7th US-India Aviation Summit in Washington, DC, Garcetti said, “We also see such strong needs, both on the U.S. and Indian side, of strengthening this relationship because the U.S. is a unique country poised to assist India in its growth.”

“I don't know of any country in the world growing in the aviation sector as fast as India. I don't know of any other country in the world as strong in the aviation sector as the United States, and I know of no partnership between two countries in which we've committed to the technologies of the future, the co-development, the co-production, and the frictionless exchange of ideas, products, people, and training as between the United States and India,” he said.

Commenting on the outcome of the summit, United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) Director Enoh T. Ebong said, “In a very practical way, a successful outcome would be if we could top the over $300 million of transactions, of deals, that came out of the last US-India Aviation Summit, that is a very tangible outcome that we experienced from the last summit in 2018.”

Ambassador Garcetti listed more outcomes, such as— buying more planes and parts from each other, fixing more planes together, establishing some MRO facilities in India that would train, generation, help planes that are going to or through India around the world to make that a real hub, align safety and security standards, among others.

On information sharing, the Ambassador said, “We've never worked more closely with our Indian counterparts on cyber, on counterterrorism, and on airport security than we do today. So sharing of information happens regularly on the most sensitive topics with each other to be able to make sure that we're stronger together.”

Commenting on joint initiatives on safety aspects, Amb.Garcetti announced that an agreement is most likely to be signed between the United States  Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Indian authorities. “The US has been pretty robust after our experience after 9-11, and India has expressed interest in that.”

“We recently had a new position approved in India at the US mission for a TSA representative that we look forward to fulfilling. And that person is going to be a resource, really, for India as much as they'll be a representative for aviation safety back to the US,” he added.