Highlights

• With this, the Indian defence industry can get licenses to import sensitive US dual-use items and technology. This is applicable to not only sale of equipment, but also to their manufacture in India.
• After a year-and-half of hectic negotiations, India has joined an elite group of allies of the US, including a majority of NATO allies, to become a part of a club of countries which can get access to 90 per cent of defence technology and equipment ,all of them for dual-use , supplied by the US government and its defence industry.
• India got the Major Defence Partner status by the US in 2016, started negotiating on this about a year and half ago and a pathbreak in this is  a big leap sending  out a strong political message and a robust signal to the defence industry on India’s status.
• This opens doors for US and other foreign companies, as well as Indian companies to manufacture items, which were restricted to be procured under US law.
• Ahead of the 2+2 dialogue between Indian and US foreign and defence ministers on September 6, this is a major takeaway, as India inches closer to realizing the potential of being designated a “Major Defence Partner” since 2016.
• India will be the third Asian country, after Japan and South Korea, to avail of this exemption, under what is called the Strategic Trade Authorization-1 (STA-1) list. The STA-1 list has 36 countries, either they are major US allies or NATO allies or members of all four multilateral export control regimes.
• China, Pakistan, Russia are not part of either STA – I and STA- 2 countries list. Even Israel, which is a close US partner, is not an STA-1 country.
• Countries come under STA-1 list, when the US is reasonably sure that the technology will not endanger regional stability, does not pose a threat to US national security and has minimum to zero risk of proliferation.
• In the STA-2 list, countries get the technology unless it poses a threat to regional stability.

Source: The Indian Express