Technology Policy
ORF America
Who Builds, Wins: The Trillion-Dollar Contest ...

By Andreas Kuehn

The contest for AI supremacy is no longer about who has the best models, but about who can fund, power, and scale the infrastructure behind them.

Who Builds, Wins: The Trillion-Dollar Contest for AI Infrastructure
Economic Development
ORF America
The colours of capital

By Udaibir Das

Can capital take on purpose without money losing the fungibility on which markets depend? The question must be asked while the machinery is still being chosen.

The colours of capital
Foreign Policy & Security
ORF America
Raising ambition in the India-New Zealand ...

By Dhruva Jaishankar

The India-New Zealand partnership has benefited in recent years from top-down political attention, a strong people-to-people foundation, and external impulses compelling both New Delhi and Wellington to diversify their partnerships. The next few years represent an opportunity to build upon the foundations of an FTA and Strategic Partnership and construct a relationship that is more than two-dimensional.  

Raising ambition in the India-New Zealand partnership
Foreign Policy & Security
ORF America
A Pact Without Impact

By Vasabjit Banerjee

The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement faces all the classic challenges of an alliance with none of the unifying elements.

A Pact Without Impact
Energy & Climate
ORF America
Net Zero Planning Needs an AI Update. COP31 is ...

By Piyush Verma and Andrei Covatariu

The COP31 presidency has proposed raising electricity’s share of global final energy demand, yet AI is largely missing from climate and energy planning. At COP31 in Antalya this November, that needs to change.

Net Zero Planning Needs an AI Update. COP31 is the Right Moment to Do That

US India Partnership

Congressional Testimony: The U.S.-India Strategic Partnership

BY DHRUVA JAISHANKAR

Chairman Huizenga, Ranking Member Kamlager-Dove, and Members of the Subcommittee: It is a privilege to appear before you today. I am grateful to House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) Chairman Brian Mast and Ranking Member Gregory Meeks for their invitation.

My name is Dhruva Jaishankar, and I am Executive Director of the Observer Research Foundation America (ORF America), a public policy think tank based in Washington DC affiliated with the Observer Research Foundation in India. My father is the External Affairs Minister of India, the counterpart to the U.S. Secretary of State. However, I appear today in my capacity as a private Indian citizen. My testimony reflects my personal views as an international relations analyst, and not those of my employer or the Government of India.

I would like to highlight three points in today’s hearing:

  • The strengthening U.S.-India strategic partnership since 1998 has been premised on converging interests. These related to: (i) mutually-beneficial economic opportunities in both countries and (ii) strategic coordination, particularly in the Indo-Pacific amid China’s rise and growing assertiveness and, more recently, in stabilizing the Middle East.

  • The progress made in consolidating the U.S.-India partnership is currently at a political standstill, primarily due to differences over (i) trade and tariffs and (ii) renewed U.S. engagement with Pakistan’s military leadership. Additional differences involving Russia, regional strategies, and both countries’ domestic policies exist, but are manageable.

  • The present situation risks jeopardizing mutually-beneficial cooperation on (i) the ambitious bilateral agenda outlined by President Trump and Prime Minister Modi in February 2025 on trade, technology, energy, and defense cooperation and (ii) strategic cooperation between the two countries in the Quad, in the Middle East, and on global affairs: from the Western Hemisphere and Africa to AI and critical minerals.

Read the full testimony.

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