Doval-Sullivan launch tech talks in the U.S., as senior U.S. official visits Delhi read full article at worldnews365.me

Nationwide Safety Advisor Ajit Doval attending the primary iCET assembly in Washington on January 31, 2023.
| Picture Credit score: ANI

Nationwide Safety Advisor Ajit Doval met along with his counterpart within the U.S. Jake Sullivan and different senior officers in Washington on Tuesday for the inaugural Initiative on Important and Rising Applied sciences (iCET) dialogue that was introduced final 12 months.

The iCET initiative was launched throughout the assembly between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joseph Biden on the Quad assembly in Tokyo final Could, and is being run by the Nationwide Safety Councils of each international locations.

The conferences in Washington coincided with U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland’s go to to Delhi on Tuesday, the place she met Exterior Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Overseas Secretary Vinay Kwatra, in interactions that can set the stage for visits by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in March adopted by Mr. Biden in September, each for G-20 occasions.

Mr. Modi and Mr. Biden are additionally because of meet on the G-7 assembly of developed international locations — the place India is a particular invitee — to be held in Hiroshima in Could, and on the Quad summit to be held in Sydney, additionally this summer time.

Deal with South Asia

“Good talk on the Indian Subcontinent, the Indo-Pacific and the many convergences in our relationship,” Mr. Jaishankar tweeted.

After holding overseas workplace consultations with Mr. Kwatra, Ms. Nuland stated that the talks had centered on “deepening the U.S.-India strategic relationship in 2023”, including that the U.S. seemed ahead to collaborating on world challenges, together with on the G-20. Ms. Nuland flew to Delhi from Kathmandu the place she met Nepali PM Prachanda and his cupboard members, and can proceed to Colombo from India. It’s understood that she mentioned India-U.S. cooperation within the area throughout her conferences.

In an announcement issued after the assembly, the Ministry of Exterior Affairs (MEA) stated that each side had focussed on regional developments in “South Asia, Indian Ocean Region and the Indo-Pacific”. They “took stock of a number of initiatives and frameworks that reflect common strategic interests” — together with the Quad, I2U2, the Indo-Pacific Financial Framework and the Indo-Pacific Maritime Area Consciousness Initiative — and in addition mentioned India’s G20 presidency this 12 months.

‘Help India with alternatives’

The MEA didn’t reply to queries on whether or not Ms. Nuland, who has been on the forefront of the U.S. response to Russia over the Ukraine battle, raised the difficulty throughout her conferences.

Ms. Nuland had instructed U.S. lawmakers at a Senate Overseas Relations briefing forward of her go to that a part of her function was to “help India with alternatives” to the “60 years of entanglement” with Russia, referring to India’s army and power dependency on Russian provides.

Eradicating tech switch obstacles

In the meantime in Washington, Mr. Doval participated with Mr. Sullivan in a particular occasion hosted by the US India Enterprise Council (USIBC) forward of the iCET’s inaugural assembly on Monday. The iCET is predicted to concentrate on how you can take away obstacles in expertise transfers and co-production within the areas of essential and rising applied sciences significantly in telecommunication and semiconductor chip provide chains.

“iCET is about much more than technology cooperation, it’s a platform to accelerate our strategic convergence and policy alignment,” Mr. Sullivan instructed the USIBC spherical desk, which included U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

“NSA Ajit Doval and Indian Ambassador to U.S. [Taranjit] 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,” an announcement issued by the USIBC stated, forward of the iCET assembly anticipated to happen in Washington on Tuesday, which is early morning on Wednesday by Indian Normal Time.