US national security adviser (NSA) Jake Sullivan arrived in New Delhi for official discussions at the invitation of Indian counterpart Ajit Doval. He will be visiting the capital from June 17-18, 2024 and will be holding wide-ranging talks with the Indian NSA on cooperation under the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET).
It is the first trip to India by a senior American official after the Modi government came to power for the third term. The prospect of the two NSAs meeting were discussed during a phone call between US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week. Biden called up Modi to congratulate him on his re-election for a third term.
People familiar with the developments said he also met external affairs minister Dr. S. Jaishankar earlier today.
One of the key objectives of this visit is to review the progress of the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), the aforementioned people said. Doval and Sullivan will assess the advancements made so far and set new priorities and deliverables for the initiative.
The people mentioned above further added that the NSAs will discuss bilateral issues and review the India-US partnership on regional and global matters of mutual interest.
Doval and Sullivan the first annual review of iCET with an inter-departmental delegation from both countries.
Both will also address the India-US iCET Roundtable with industry CEOs, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, on June 18.
The two sides are likely to review ongoing defence cooperation including an ambitious plan between US defence giant GE Aerospace and India’s Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) to produce the advanced F414 jet engines for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
In August last year, the US Congress approved the agreement between GE Aerospace and HAL to produce the jet engines.
The two sides are also expected to deliberate on the ambitious India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
There has been a delay in implementation of the mega project in view of the current situation in West Asia.
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