American National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan met his Indian counterpart and External Affairs Minister Jaishankar in New Delhi on day one of his two-day visit to India. Sullivan is in Delhi on an invitation from Indian NSA Ajit Doval. The American NSA is leading a large delegation that consists of top government officials and industry leaders. The current visit was pending due to elections in India. The visit was announced by the White House soon after the election results were announced. The current visit is an effort to deepen strategic ties between the world’s largest democracies. The two NSAs routinely hold discussions over a wide range of bilateral and global topics.
India and the United States are increasing defence cooperation in many domains. The increasing defence collaboration is has accelerated on account of an ever-increasing assertive China in the Indo-Pacific region. India is a Tier-1 Strategic Trade Authorisation partner of the United States. Both countries are moving towards deeper integration. India is now better integrated in the U.S. defence supply chain and is manufacturing many critical pieces of equipment for the United States such as the fuselage of the Chinook and Apache helicopters, the C-130 Hercules and the wings of the F-16 fighters.
The militaries of the two nations also engage each other in exercises in both bilateral and multilateral formats. At the time of writing of this article an Indian Air Force contingent is making its presence felt at the Red Flag exercise in Alaska organised by U.S. Pacific Command, which looks after China. Other exercises include Yudh Abhyas, Vajra Prahar, Cope India, Malabar and a plethora of multi-lateral exercises.
Besides security-related issues, talks will also be held on emerging technologies. These talks will be held under the India- US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET). Under this initiative by PM Modi and U.S. President Biden, talks will be held on key technologies such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, innovation in defence, space collaboration and advanced telecommunications technologies. Digital connectivity, digital public infrastructure, biotechnology, rare earth minerals, processing of rare earth minerals and advanced materials have also been added to iCET.
The two NSAs will chair the inaugural iCET review meet that will be attended by an inter-departmental delegation from both nations. A roundtable with industry CEOs from both countries will also be held, the conference is being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
