National Security Advisors Ajit Doval, Jake Sullivan Hold Roundtable In Washington

WASHINGTON, DC (ANI) – National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on January 30 highlighted the need to convert intentions and ideas into actions and specific deliverables through focused steps in a time-bound manner with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan noting that the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) will accelerate US’ strategic technology partnership with India.

The two NSAs made the remarks at a high-level roundtable organized by US India Business Council of the US Chambers of Commerce. Doval and India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu highlighted India’s remarkable capacity for technology development and absorption and emphasized India’s use of technology not only as an enabler of economic growth but as an instrument of social inclusion.

They commended the launch of the iCET, given the natural complementary strengths of the Indian and American economies and the growing strategic convergence between both nations.

Doval, who arrived in Washington on January 30, also met General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US where both held a “fruitful discussion.”

iCET was announced during bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden in Tokyo in 2022 on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders’ Summit.

During the roundtable, Doval and Sandhu also emphasized India’s growing role as a trusted supply chain partner and contributor in the global technology value chain and underlined the importance of easing export control measures to facilitate technology access, co-production, and co-development between India and the US.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in his remarks that iCET will “accelerate our strategic convergence” and policy alignment.

“iCET is about much more than technology cooperation, it’s a platform to accelerate our strategic convergence and policy alignment.”

Highlighting the work ahead for both governments, Sullivan said that the United States and Indian governments “want to establish a list of “firsts”.

“First in removing barriers on both sides to enable greater ambition by all of you,” he said.

Sullivan highlighted how iCET will accelerate the United States’ strategic technology partnership with India and advance the two countries shared democratic values.

He also recognized the pivotal role that businesses, educators, and investors play, urged the gathering to be ambitious in deepening business and academic ties.

He expressed commitment to work NSA Doval to remove barriers on both sides.

Sullivan made the remarks ahead of the inaugural high-level dialogue between the two countries concerning iCET.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo attended the roundtable. The participants highlighted the central role the US and India would play in shaping the development of advanced technologies.

They discussed opportunities to promote the development of critical and emerging technologies such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence, with a special focus on how to increase academic and government research exchanges and strengthen their linkages with the private sector.

A key theme throughout the roundtable was how both governments could facilitate deeper alignment on technology issues, including encouraging semiconductor supply chain resilience, deepening the two countries’ research and development collaboration, strengthening workforce and education connectivity, and promoting co-investment and co-development.

In one of the sessions, the roundtable discussed microchips as a critical technology and the important role the US-India relationship could play in building a reliable semiconductor supply chain.