National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval met US Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff General Mark Milley in Washington late on Monday evening and held discussions on various aspects of bilateral co-operation, which were termed as “fruitful” by Indian Ambassador to US Taranjit Singh Sandhu.
The meeting between Doval and Milley took place late Monday at the India House in Washington, the official residence of India's Ambassador.
The interaction comes in the backdrop of the US emerging as one of the biggest exporters of weapon systems to India in the last two decades with figures crossing the 20 billion dollar mark. Efforts are on to have joint ventures between the defence companies of the two countries in India to propel the local defence industry to world class standards.
"General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff @thejointstaff called on NSA Ajit Doval today. Fruitful discussion on various aspects of India-US bilateral cooperation," the Indian embassy in Washington said in a tweet. Later in the evening, Sandhu hosted a reception in honour of Doval, who is in Washington leading a high-powered Indian delegation for the inaugural India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) dialogue.
It was attended by top officials of the Biden administration, including US National Security Advisor(NSA) Jake Sullivan. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan and National A; NASA Administrator(NASA) Bill Nelson. The reception was alsoattended by corporate leadership, academics and think tanks. "A unique & special reception in India House! Delighted to host India NSA Ajit Doval, US NSA @JakeSullivan46, Commerce Sec @GinaRaimondo, CEOs frm India & US and leadership of prominent Universities. Insightful conversations on building bilateral cooperation in critical and emerging tech," Sandhu said in a tweet.
The American side had CEOs of Micron, Lockheed Martin, Applied Materials, Global Foundries, General Atlantic, General Atomics, General Catalyst, America's Frontier Fund in addition to Co-founder of LinkedIn, executive vice president of NASDAQ. Presidents of US India Business Council (USIBC), US India Strategic and Partnership Forum attended the reception that also saw the presence of presidents of Western Digital and Qualcomm, several other US industry members, including Google.
Corporate leadership from the Indian side included those from Tata Sons, Bharti Enterprises, Larsen and Toubro, Bharat Forge, Reliance Jio, Adani Defence, Mahindra and Mahindra and ArcelorMittal. Leaders from several emerging startups from India also attended the reception of Doval. Prominent among them being Dhruva Space which is working in the field of satellite development, Digan-tara (space tracking), Pixxel (satellite imagery), 3rdi Tec (communication), Q Pi-Ai(AI & Quantum) and Saankhya Labs (wireless communication).
Announced during US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bilateral talks in Tokyo in May last year, the iCET is spearheaded by the National Security Councils of both countries.
It focuses on strengthening the US-India partnership on the technologies that will drive global growth, bolster both countries' economic competitiveness, and protect shared national security interests.
Underlining the importance of the Icet, the US NSA said it will accelerate America's technology partnership and strategic convergence and policy alignment with India.
Sullivan and Doval are scheduled to meet at the White House on Tuesday along with their respective high-powered delegations for the inaugural iCET dialogue. Sullivan said the US and Indian governments want to establish a "list of firsts”, "firsts in removing barriers—on both sides—to enable greater ambition by all of you." He highlighted how iCET will accelerate the US' strategic technology partnership with India and advance the two countries' shared democratic values.
He also recognised the pivotal role that businesses, educators, and investors play and urged the attendees to be ambitious in deepening bilateral business and academic ties. Doval highlighted the need to convert intentions and ideas into actions and specific deliverables through focused steps in a time bound manner.
In their remarks, Doval and India's Ambassador to India Taranjit Singh Sandhu highlighted India's remarkable capacity for technology development and absorption, and emphasised India's use of technology not only as an enabler of economic growth but as an instrument of social inclusion.
Both Doval and Sandhu commended the launch of the iCET, given the natural complementary strengths of the Indian and American economies and the growing strategic convergence between the two countries. They also emphasised India's growing role as a trusted supply chain partner and contributor in the global technology value chain.