India and the United States have agreed in principle to strengthen Science & Technology (S&T) cooperation during the July 18, 2005 visit of Indian Prime Minister Singh to the United States.  These cooperative efforts will strengthen the science and technology capabilities of India and the U.S., expand relations between their extensive scientific and technological communities, and promote technological and scientific cooperation in areas of mutual benefit. 

Proposed joint endeavors, which for the first time will establish intellectual property right protocols and other provisions necessary to conduct active collaborative research, will accelerate cooperation between Indian and U.S. scientists in government agencies, private sector, and academia in such areas as:  basic sciences, space, energy, nanotechnology, health, and information technology that will advance scientific understanding and benefit all our peoples. 

Scientific and economic links between India and the United States have remained strong since the early 1960s, first in agriculture, and then spreading into a broad range of areas involving most of the U.S. government technical agencies.  The United States and India established a $110 million Public Law 480 “Rupee Fund” in 1987 to promote and fund science and technology collaboration and educational and cultural exchanges.  The Rupee Fund Agreement, which stimulated a broad set of cooperative activity between the U.S. and India, continued until 1998.  The Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (Forum), established in 2000, was created and endowed with a portion of the remaining Public Law 480 Rupee Funds.