NSA Ajit Doval on Monday held extensive talks with his American counterpart Jake Sullivan, focusing on implementation of the ambitious India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), bilateral defence ties and regional security situation.
Sullivan is visiting Delhi from June 17 to 18, in the first trip to India by a senior Biden administration official after the Modi government came to power for the third term.
The US National Security Adviser (NSA) is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising senior US government officials and industry leaders.
It is learnt that the two NSAs also deliberated on the proposed India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) against the backdrop of a delay in its rollout in view of the current situation in West Asia.
Sullivan’s visit to India came three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden had a brief conversation on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy’s Apulia region.
The top Biden administration official also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. He is also expected to call on Prime Minister Modi.
“Delighted to welcome US NSA @JakeSullivan46 in New Delhi today morning. A comprehensive discussion on a broad range of bilateral, regional and global issues,” Jaishankar said on ‘X’.
“Confident that India-US strategic partnership will continue to advance strongly in our new term,” he said.
The iCET was launched by PM Modi and President Biden on the sidelines of the Quad summit in Tokyo on May 24, 2022.