Because the routine tasks will become automated. We dont need some of the programming that was done by hundreds of people, doesnt need to be done by as many people because some of the simple stuff can be automated so were moving up the food chain in terms of what do the people need. They need cutting edge skills in ai and in other areas that didnt etxist ten years ago. Thats where the investment needs to be made. If we make those investments, well be in better shape. Similar comments. High skilled workers are key to ge and are in large part a sector of the work force that we cant almost fully adequately address here from the u. S. Work force. I hate talking about automation and work force. Sometimes it sounds academic when were talking about peoples lives and coming up with the right solutions for the right transitions to new economies and inevitable change. It is inevitable. Ge has a strong focus on stem programs in Public Schools and around the United States and the bottom line is, we need high skilled workers. Yes, there is some of that na is eliminating manufacturing jobs, possibly here in the u. S. But at the same time, we see new jobs being replaced and we see them as high paid good ge jobs around which communities can develop and build. The same sentiments. I think as you look towards the future of aviation and aerospace, ougautonomy is a facf life. Automation is there. Does it take jobs away . Not necessarily as you rightly said. It requires new skill sets. You have to have a next generation of Artificial Intelligence folks trying to support that. We have to evolve. Were committed to that. My final question before i open it to the floor, Prime Minister modi, President Trump meeting. Everybody talking about this is going to be the beginning of the process of creating the defining partnership for the 21st century. Each gets a few minutes before they decide on a Bilateral Agreement on what will be the framework of the relationship moving forward. You are company people. You have to advance the interest of your company as much as anything else. You are not in the business the business i am in, which is talking about big picture stuff and never having to get into the nittygritty. You have to Say Something that is very relevant to what your business interests are, or your companys business interests are. What would be your ask of Prime Minister modi and President Trump as the u. S. And india formulate this longer Term Partnership for the future . Lets start from the other end. Well, i would say, the first thing is convergence, which we seen and heard today. I mean, thats the foundation for everything that can be done and realize the full potential of the partnership. So that convergence has to translate in terms of indian side having to work to continue working towards ease of doing business. A lot has been done. Its a work which is still in progress. So my ask from Prime Minister modi is keep going at it. Move to the top ten. Thats right. At least top 50, if not top ten. Fair enough. My ask from President Trump, dont look from zero sum game lens. Its a win win. If you grow the pie, theres a win for america. Kenny . Similar, i would say from Prime Minister modi you agree too much. Thats not good. You know that . A lot of good ideas coming out here. From president from prime minist minister modi, we recognize his commitment to modernizing indias infrastructure. From a ge perspective, we see lots of opportunities there. Across many different industries. We think its good for business. We think its good for india, indians, the economy, the environment. We see a lot of positive ways that we think we can Bring Solutions to improving life in india and leveraging the tremendous assets that india offers our company. In terms of President Trump, i think it is would be a suggestion to remain open to free trade and look deep into the advantages that are generated in this Global Economy on both sides of any borders. James . Since the panel is on innovation, im going to end with an innovation note, which is that, look, both countries are blessed with world class educational institutions. My personal view is that we will see innovation coming out of these educational institutions that can help transform the industries that were in in terms of smart agriculture, health, wellbeing, energy, all kinds Brandnew Industries that are going to transform the way our Company Operates and i know many other companies as well. So what more can we do to expand the opportunity for exchanges between these universities, investments in University Research going in both directions . Because these really are the engines of innovation. I think again, Information Technology. For Prime Minister modi, basically saying the government can do a lot in terms of infrastructure that can manifest itself in telecom, roads and commute times. But i think the government is putting a lot of emphasis on that. And i think thats got to be a ask of many of us. As far as President Trump is concerned, i think i would probably say that Information Technology and the collaboration is actually one of the brightest spots to shine spotlight on. This is an area where both countries have done tremendously well. This is an area to focus on and let things be. Things have worked despite of how things everything has in the past. This is one area where the collaborations have actually been fantastic. The second comment i would say is really dramatically increase in stem skills. I think theres a lot of debate in forums that have contributed to the topic. The time of action is now. If the skills arent existing, our cooperative positioning will go away as a country. I think thats a great spot to be investing in in the United States. Chinas experience teaches us all. I was in china way back in 1980 when china everybody went around on a bicycle. How far they have come in 27 years. A country with a billion people, modernizing can create many, many opportunities for everyone. Double digit economic growth. Basically in fact, right now, india and china are the two Fastest Growing economies in the world. India could overtake at least the base of annual growth if nothing else in a short time if the environmental changes that you talk about materialize. Folks, we are ready to take questions from you all. Comments, not so much. If you can make short comments, you are welcome. The mike will be brought around to you after you raise your hand and ive identified you. Those who want to ask questions of the panel or make comments on the panels comments. Right there. First. And please speak in the mike, because so that at least your sound can be on the tape if not your visual. Thank you. David roman from an arizona startup. Interested in aviation technology. Can you give us more of an idea how you recommend we go about forming these collaborations in schools . How a community can do their part to step up and parter ner h you. Who wants to take that questi question, james . Was it to me . It was to all of you. Whoever wants to answer. You said you are from a startup. Today i think the world looks at Silicon Valley. I think in my personal view is to replicate the Silicon Valley ecosystem is probably next to impossible. Its so unique. It has so much dynamic its unbelievable. Having said that, there are some phenomenal collaborations between startups and ecosystems emerging in north america today. I saw that in austin. There are fantastic investments. There are fantastic innovations happening in new york city. There is collaboration between municipalities in boston and companies in biotech. The next generation of Skill Development and collaboration is our focus. Picking teams is i think a great idea. Because otherwise, it will be too much lack of focus. This is something were encouraging our clients to do. We are a part of such ecosystems in three different cities in the u. S. Right now. Did you want to Say Something . Anybody else . Since your interest in aviation and education, listen, the real and clear present opportunities, in india, where they are acquiring about 100 aircraft a year. They dont have enough trained maintenance engineers. They dont have enough trained pilots. They dont have enough trained crew. So you know, a lot of demand. We had to figure out the right way to partner there and create openings. I think thats the way to the mantra is partnership with the local companies. Right here. Just to add one point here. From the ge perspective, the individual companies have their own programs as it relate to stem. Employees actually spend time in the local schools working with students through some of the curriculum, and theres financial contributions as well. We also have a focus on trying to bring women into the traditional engineering environment. Im mike nelson. I represent cloud flare here in washington. Were a startup in san francisco. We do web security. We have three data centers in india as well as more than 100 elsewhere. Im very glad Cyber Security was mentioned. Im more glad that the ease of doing business or the inability to do business in india was mentioned. Because in our area, we have seen very contradictory messages coming out of the Telecommunications Regulatory authority of india. I have been working in this area for 20 years. I have seen documents where in one paragraph it says something that sounds like let the market decide, let everything happen and then two paragraphs later it says, this is so important, the cloud, the internet of things, we must plan it, we must regulate it, we must control it. The document itself is inconsistent. The question perhaps to mr. Obrien or anyone else who wants to comment, how do you suggest a startup either indian or american startup trying to go into india make sense of this very inconsistent, uneven Regulatory Environment . I dont want to put pratyush on the spot, but i bet you have more perspective than i do. Our recent ge experience with our rail endeavor has been one where with Prime Minister mmodis buyin we prepared for the regulatory process of building a manufacturing facility. My colleagues prepared me for unending headaches as it relates to getting through the hurdles. We identified 47 key regulatory steps we had to go through. To be honest, to this day, i havent been called on on one of them. It speaks to Prime Minister modis commitment to creating working with the state government, sort of a one stop shopping on the regulatory side, which has been very beneficial. But thats the perspective of large companies. What i get from that, which a Small Company can do is identify what the regulatory hurdles are to be. They identified 47. As far as the li sometimes it americans wanting everything said and stated the way they are used to. It may not be as complex as you are saying. Even if it is, figure out what the complexity is and then negotiate based on that, pointing out the inconsistencies so they can be removed. Theyre a work in progress and theyre moving forward and trying do it. Especially in fast moving spaces like Cyber Security. Nobody really knows what relations should be. A lot of cut and paste going on. If you discover inconsistency, talk to them. We have seen that if you bring forth a cogent argument, you will see it harmonized. Theres no guarantee that it will be harmonized to your satisfaction all the time. But it will be harmonized. Please understand that the senior most bureaucrat dealing with the subject probably never typed in his life, because he had somebody who used to take dictation and shorthand when he started out. I started out as a journalist. I did it on a small portable computer. So i had to educate myself all the way to be able to come to where i am. If you are in a huge bureaucracy, you havent. So therefore, a lot of these things are new. Some of the questions that you are saying that have been added on, while having said free market, thats coming from the younger person, and, hey, lets put in a qualifier thats coming from the older person in the bureaucracy. Once you can sit people down and point it out without being aggressive and without being dismissive, usually, they do get resolved. The Bigger Companies do it more methodically from my experience because they can put the resources. Smaller ones get angry and frustrated. If they can create collaboration to try and dealing with the Regulatory Environment is not just one company. You can pull together and several of you together can try and deal with getting the regulations worked around and figured out. Because the intention is quite clearly what the first part says, which is they do want to open up. But you must understand that that is not what the bureaucracy was brought up on. So, therefore, their instinct is to be protective and this is something i Tell International companies all the time. Remember, the defining experience of modern india was the east india company. Which came to trade and to took over the country. Therefore, theres a reluctance. If you understand that, then you can deal with the psychology a lot better. Then you can trade. Then you can do business. Then you can be very successful there. Thats my two cents. I will give a more tactical answer to that. We invest in a bunch of startups. We are very actively invested in Cyber Security companies in the u. S. Who do business globally. There are Venture Capital funds in Silicon Valley who invested in several Cyber Security firms. Their defining is, you have exposure to india. They will not invest if they dont have the exposure. That means having Market Penetration is essential for them. A lot of the firms have figured this out for you. Sometimes it doesnt have to be your headache. There are firms which have figured this out. Make it a little more easy for the portfolio companies. If you can write to me sometime later, i can make some introductions for you there. Thank you. Steve landy, manchester trade. Quick response on uber. Until you compensate the indian taxi driver who spend 500,000, a Million Dollars for a medallion in new york to drive a cab, until you introduce some fair and similar regulation for taxis and uber, we should go slow with it. However, the serious question. I do a lot of work in trade policy. The love and friendship that you see exhibited here does not exist in trade policy between the u. S. And india. In fact, the wto has stopped work since 2007 because of a disagreement between india and the u. S. In terms of traditional trade issues, which is very much a shame because this disagreement is preventing the wto from working on the new issues that you are discussing. My question or maybe its a point, im not sure, is i go to a lot of trade policy meetings fiber sector in the National Association of manufacturers chambers. Your companies are represented, the american companies. You never know about india. Your guys are there talking about trade policy. I assume the same thing with the confederation of indian industries. People who know the trade policy are not the same people who really are involved with this close relationship between you and india, between the u. S. And india. Can awe dreyou address these is . I want to break the impasse in wto so we can move into the very issues you are discussing. Thank you very much. Who is brave enough to take that question . You two, because you are the expert, including uber. Im not an expert on wto at all. I cant comment to that. At least in our industry, we dont see trade values as so much of a threat right now. It could and its unnecessary on both sides. Its really industry, which is a shining bright spot. Thats all i will say. Wto is beyond any subject matter expertise. Your point is well taken. I think people who negotiate trade policy often tend to be people who are not necessarily the ones who actually have firsthand experience of the market and of the business. Then thats the nature of all things that are attempts at trying to regulate. The regulators are not necessarily always the people who are actually running businesses. Theres room for a new strategy for both sides to discuss trade policy in a context in which the real Life Experience of people who actually do trade, what do they need, how does that work and then determine trade policy rather than the other way around. Theres quite a few questions on this side. We havent come to this side at all. Lets do it here, right here, first question. Thank you, ambassador. I teach in the school of public policy. I agree with some of the earlier speakers. Theres a long way before it becomes a defining partnership of the 21st century. What are the main reasons for that . Is it the cultural differences between the two sides . If cultural differences between the two sides is also another reason that we bridge, because on the in the u. S. , i see the presence of india helping the dialogue very significantly. But there is no american die as pore are a in india as such numbers which would aid that process. Once americans who have lived in india, worked in india, either in the embassy or in corporations like ge, when they come back, they have a better understanding. To aid that cultural dialogue, will this be one of the conditions which will facilitate the process further . What are the other aspects . Better and more profound and deeper understanding of each others interests to progress to the point where it becomes the defining pe ining partnership. Here is a ge anecdote. Two weeks ago if you caught news, ge announced that our current president , ceo is retiring. Somebody who visited india many, many times. Is one of the big, big promoters of the u. S. india and ge relationship there. In the announcement of jeffs retirement, there was reference to the new president , john flanry coming in from the Ge Healthcare business. Jeff explicitly recognized his experience in india and in other countries as helping him tremendously in improving his offering as a top leader in the company and part of his progression toward president and ceo. From an anecdotal perspective, your point is well taken. Its playing out as we move toward a new chairman and ceo of ge who has deep experience and had a very formative time in his career in india. Right here. My name is a. J. Kutari, im president of an aerospace r d company. I presume this question might go to pratyush. During the administration bush w. , there was a lot of cooperation between United States and india in terms of i know the administrator of nasa went to india three times at that time. Since then, it has declined. Now with the interest that President Trump has and also vicepresident pence has in space and stuff, would that not be a good time to have more cooperation between the two countries . Thats question number one. Related to that is that theres a lot of commercial interest now in space, space x being an example here in this country. Would there be a sort of corroboration between the two companies also between the two countries . Thank you for that question. Space collaboration is one of the unfulfilled potentials that needs to be addressed. As you know, it was taken off the list. Since then, there has been a concerted effort to collaborate. Of course, on Indian Space Missions for the mars mission and the moon mission. Theres cooperation with nasa that happened. Recently, just a few months ago, india launched 104 satellites. 101 were cube sets from an American Company startup in Silicon Valley. Big potential. Its the start of a new phase of cooperation between the two countries. The new thing in the mix is the private and entrepreneurs in the space area. With space x and blue origin and startup, the disruptive cost position that india brings has become in sharp focus. Its really going beyond just its a Startup Ecosystem starting in india. They are trying to put aircraft on the moon privately funded. Unthinkable, right . I had a good fortune to visit them a few times. They will make a difference. You are right. We are facing a point where we cannot only see cooperation, but on the space front. Those who dont know, iso is the indian space organization. Feeding into that discussion, two sort of emerging concepts in education. I would love to have a reaction from the panel. One, of course, is the new focus here in the United States on Apprenticeship Programs which are coming from europe but from all over the world. What is the take in india on that concept, especially regarding innovation to do physical work . The other is mooks. The far east is probably ahead of the United States on the use of mooks or the ability to affect the innovation side as well as agageneral education. Thoughts on the evolution of those two concepts between u. S. And india. Let me continue on that. Apprenticeship is fundamental, especially as you look at the gap between skilled required and skills available. Apprenticeship is the one bridge that can bridge the gap. I will give example of that. The Aircraft MaintenanceEngineers India has 50 schools. They graduate 7,000 ame engineers. We looked at the last three years. 150 of them were type rated. 7,000 graduated, 150 qualified. Big gap. We are working with the airlines to create a finishing school, create Apprenticeship Program to close the gap. Very, very important. Second part of the question on mooks. We saw a story about the young kid taking the open course for mit and doing wonderfully well. The content has become available. You are part of the best in the world. Mook is the way to drive that down to the unpenetrated parts of the country. Last two questions in the middle. Good afternoon. My name is julian kyle lewis. I study at the American University here in d. C. Were looking at about 9. 2 billion in cuts to the Education System program here in the United States. That will directly affect the stem programs that you all mentioned in areas of math and science, majoring in engineering and computer science. What my professors are seeing is that once our students are graduating with the high level degrees, around the world theyre not being as respected as they once were. They spend all these years in school. Many countries like independent india dont respect the American Scholars because of whats happening to our Education System. What advice do you have . Without trying i dont think the situation is as alarming as that. We respect Education System. My children go to school here. We probably are setting some of the best systems in north america. What one needs to be alarmed about whether you are a student or professor, whether you are trained in skills for the future. We need to worry about. Just as much as there are skill pratyush talked about, almost on a regular basis, because we are one of the biggest recorders in india, we see that happening in the u. S. As well. We are running what we call as our internal Apprenticeship Program where we hire people from colleges. Theyre not ready to yet get deployed in the technologies. There are clients that want us to work on. We learn through the courses before we get them ready. You run a large global internal program because we have 160,000 people worldwide. We train them through certified courses where we are offering certificates for them. What am i getting trained in as opposed to saying is the United States going to be competent in the world of education. I think that worry is misplaced. Perhaps embellished and exaggerated. Look, i think the days of expecting that you go to a fouryear college, graduate and thats the end of your education and training for the rest of your life are long gone. What you can hope for is that you are getting trained in the skills that will allow you to continue to educate yourself and train yourself in whatever is coming in the next ten years and 20 years. Thats really what you hope you are getting out of that expensive education is that you are giving getting skills that will help you stay at the cutting edge and stay able to learn and be inquisitive and develop over the next decades. The body of knowledge is expanding. So therefore, what you learn needs to be updated all the time. Thats whats really going on. Last question here. Thank you. My name is veronica cartie. I have been involved in u. S. india operations. Im involved with a think tank here carnegie, also with the carnegie india. We make sure that we focus so much with the security. Like Maritime Exercises and nuclear policy. The reason im here, i would also give one comment and one question. My comment is that i would like to increase how important it is approaching the indopacific island, that its very sensitive that its very vulnerable for any destroyer to get into the indian ocean. Therefore, i would like to ask question, what is your plan for expansi expansion . Its a strategic approach to support the cooperation for military exercise as well as Maritime Exercise in indionesia water as well as indian ocean. I hope from ge and boeing and oth other. Technology or education, aviation, anything to support the security strategic cooperation. Its really helpful. Thank you. I would say just one thing. Theres a huge convergence on that need. U. S. And india have been working closely on that. The biggest reflection of that cooperation is the Maritime Surveillance aircraft. The indian navy acquired the aircraft the same time as u. S. Navy. That never happened. It is giving them capability frand providing security. Thats an important part of the security cooperation. I think as you see more discussions about defense trade and technology initiative, which is started by former secretary carter, its focused on capabilities in the Maritime Security. You are right, thats something we have to watch carefully. We are building on a pretty good success with the program with india. I think that the announcement of the sale of the defender drone, that is part that is a Maritime Security instrument, i think. That is part of the overall strategic outlook there. Before we close, i would like to invite sumani dash to speak and thank everyone on our behalf. Thank you all very much for being such and interesting panel. I hope that everybody in the audience has learned as much as i have learned from this discussion. Sumani. Thank you so much, ambassador. On behalf of the confederation of indian industry, i wanted to thank our partners, the Hudson Institute for working with us and for the president to take the time to be with us earlier today. Again, very special thanks to the ambassador. We can rely on you to conduct the sessions in a skillful manner but with a touch of humor. Big thanks to our Hudson Institute. A great partner to work with. Also, of course, huge thanks to our distinguished panelists. We appreciate each of you taking the time to be with us. I know some of you have flown in, of course, pratyush from india and we appreciate all of your very insightful comments. We wanted to get to the twoway nature of the u. S. india trade investment and job creation story. I hope thats what came through certainly from our point of view, we got that message across. Were very much looking forward to a very productive conversation between Prime Minister modi and President Trump today. Very substantive and outcome oriented visit. Prime minister modi did write an oped in the wall street journal. He did talk about the convergence of interest and values between our countries, two very important words there. He mentioned the combination of technology, innovation and skilled workers. Really is what is going to drive the u. S. india partnership. Thats the heart we are hoping to work on much more. Thank you again for all of you for being here today. Thank you all very much. [ applause ] cspan where history unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies and is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider