New Delhi, January 31
National Security Adviser Ajit K Doval, speaking about US-India ties in frontier areas, has highlighted the need for specific deliverables through focused steps in a time-bound manner.
Speaking at a roundtable in the US, Doval highlighted India’s capacity for technology development and absorption and said it uses technology not only to boost economic growth but also as an instrument of social inclusion.
Doval met Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley as well as interacted with two senior US Cabinet Ministers as well as CEOs of MNCs to accelerate India-US technology partnership and policy alignment. The meeting took place on Monday at the India House in Washington. “Fruitful discussion on various aspects of India-US bilateral cooperation,” tweeted the Indian embassy.
Indian Ambassador to India Taranjit Singh Sandhu hosted a reception which was attended by US NSA Jake Sullivan, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The US Chamber of Commerce also hosted a roundtable on advanced technologies, including semiconductor design and manufacturing, commercial electronics, aerospace and defence and IT services.
“Insightful conversations on building bilateral cooperation in critical and emerging technologies,” tweeted Sandhu about the reception.
The roundtable was attended by CEOs of Micron, Lockheed Martin, Applied Materials, Global Foundries, General Atlantic, General Atomics and General Catalyst. From the Indian side, there were officials from Tata Sons, Bharti Enterprises, Lamp;T, Bharat Forge, Reliance Jio, Adani Defence, Mahindra and Mahindra and ArcelorMittal. There were also representatives of Indian start ups including from Dhruva Space, Digan-tara (space tracking), Pixxel (satellite imagery), 3rdi Tec (communication), Q Pi-Ai(AI amp; Quantum) and Saankhya Labs (wireless communication).
The interaction was held before the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) to be co-chaired by Sullivan and Doval. iCET was announced after a meeting between US President Joe Biden and PM Narendra Modi in Tokyo in May last year to strengthen US-India partnership on technologies.