Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday (Jan 6) held a meeting with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in New Delhi to discuss various topics related to strategic, regional and bilateral ties.

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“Delighted to meet US NSA Jake Sullivan in New Delhi today morning,” Jaishankar wrote in an X post after the meet.

“Continued our ongoing discussions on deepening bilateral, regional and global cooperation. Valued the openness of our conversations in the last four years. Appreciated his personal contribution to forging a closer and stronger [India-US] partnership.”

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Sullivan’s India visit

Sullivan is currently on his two-day visit to India ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump as the US president on January 20.

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The visit marks one of the last foreign engagements under the administration of Joe Biden.

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Sullivan’s visit is focused on the India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), a key partnership framework aimed at strengthening strategic ties between the two nations.

Sullivan to meet NSA Ajit Doval 

The US NSA will also hold meetings with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.

The two will discuss the implementation of iCET initiatives. Their talks will include cooperation in a range of areas like defence, strategic technology, space and shared security priorities in the Indo-Pacific region.

The initiative was started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden in May 2022.

The two NSAs have highlighted the potential of iCET for strengthening the ties between India and US. In June last year, Doval emphasised the importance of being ahead with emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), biotechnology and semiconductors. This will help in protecting shared value systems.

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“iCET has achieved more than what we could imagine,” Doval noted, remarked, stressing the progress in the defence innovation strategy and the booming semiconductor industry.

Sullivan had expressed similar views and emphasised the significance of government support for private sector initiatives.

Recently Indian EAM Jaishankar met several senior officials under the Biden administration including Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the bilateral partnership between the countries during his six-day visit to the US.

(With inputs from agencies)