India, US need to work with partners to build trusted and resilient innovation base: White House

Washington: India and US now more than ever need to work with their partners to build a trusted and resilient innovation base, the White House said following the meeting between its National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his Indian counterpart Ajit K Doval.

“Our two nations have taken significant steps forward together to integrate our technology and defense supply chains in recognition that, now more than ever, we need to work with our partners to build a trusted and resilient innovation base,” the White House said in a fact sheet.

Sullivan and Doval in 2022 were instrumental in launching the path-breaking US-India initiative on Critical and -Emerging Technology (iCET) at the direction of President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sullivan travelled to India this week to meet Doval. He also had a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“During their capstone meeting, Sullivan and Doval underscored the vital importance of our efforts to jointly produce and develop strategic technologies that will allow us to deliver secure, reliable, and cost-competitive technology solutions for the world,” the fact sheet said.

“As the United States and India deepen collaboration across key sectors – from space to semiconductors, biotechnology, cybersecurity, advanced telecommunications, and clean energy – we have seen the promise of our partnership deliver results,” it said.

“Our partnership has also anchored multilateral work with like-minded nations from across the Indo-Pacific and Europe, including the Bio-5 Biopharmaceutical Supply Chain Consortium, the US-India-ROK Technology Trilateral, and ongoing cooperation with Australia and Japan through the Quad,” the White House said.

Finally, Sullivan and Doval reaffirmed their shared resolve to adapt and strengthen their technology protection toolkits and discussed efforts to address national security concerns associated with overcapacity in key technology sectors.

At the same time, they commended the progress we have made to address long-standing barriers to bilateral strategic trade, technology, and industrial cooperation, the White House said.

During the meeting, the two national security leaders expressed confidence that the bridges they have built across the governments, industry, and academia will endure and reflect on the significant achievements that they have driven across every dimension of the technological enterprise – from the seabed to the stars, and beyond, said the White House.

In a readout of the meetings, the White House said the two NSAs have engaged regularly in a high-level dialogue through extensive discussions on a broad bilateral, regional and global agenda. The current visit gave them the opportunity to review ongoing progress in their high-level dialogue, including in diverse fields such as defence, cyber and maritime Security.

Sullivan briefed the Indian side on the updates brought out by the Biden administration to US missile export control policies under the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) that will boost US commercial space cooperation with India, the White House said.

Reflecting the progress the United States and India have made—and will continue to make—as strategic partners and countries with a shared commitment to peaceful nuclear cooperation, Sullivan announced US efforts to finalize necessary steps to delist Indian nuclear entities, which will promote civil nuclear cooperation and resilient clean energy supply chains, said the White House.