NEW DELHI: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming state visit to the US next week, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who is in Delhi on an official visit, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Tuesday.
“Glad to receive Jake Sullivan. We reviewed our progress under the India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) and other issues of bilateral cooperation. I look forward to meeting President Joe Biden during my upcoming visit to the US,” said PM Modi.
Sullivan is on an official visit at the invitation of Ajit Doval and is accompanied by a delegation of senior US government officials. “The India-US initiative on iCET is going to emerge as one of the very important pillars in the India-US bilateral strategic partnership. iCET is not a government-to-government arrangement alone, but a collaborative initiative of industry, academia, research bodies and think tanks, all making an endeavour to see India and the US in a higher orbit,” said Doval.
The two NSAs have engaged regularly in extensive discussions on a broad bilateral, regional and global agenda. The current visit, which comes in the run-up to PM Modi’s visit to the US, will give them the opportunity to continue their high-level dialogue, which will include a review of the robust and multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries as well as a survey of the India-US global strategic partnership.
“The US and India are poised to lead in the clean energy transformation, shore up and diversify global semi-conductor supply chains and supply chains in other critical goods and lead the revolution in AI, advanced computing, biotech and quantum,’’ said Sullivan.
Following the launch of the India-US Initiative on iCET by PM Modi and President Biden on the sidelines of the QUAD Summit in Tokyo on May 24, 2022, the two NSAs have also driven a concerted effort between the two countries to engage on the identified areas of collaboration, including Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors, telecommunications, defence and space.
Meanwhile, the two NSAs had restricted discussions on regional and global issues of mutual interest. They also attended the second Track 1.5 dialogue on iCET organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry. The first edition of this dialogue had been held by the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. on January 30, 2023. The NSAs met the participants at the dialogue, which included leading representatives of academia and industry from both countries. Sullivan is also expected to meet External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar.