New Delhi [India], January 6 : National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met his US counterpart Jake Sullivan here on Monday and the two leaders reviewed progress in their high-level dialogue including in diverse fields such as defence, cyber and maritime security.
According to a joint press release after meeting of the two NSAs, 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.
"Reflecting the progress the United States and India have madeand will continue to makeas strategic partners and countries with a shared commitment to peaceful nuclear cooperation, NSA 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," Ministry of External Affairs said in a release.
The release said that the two NSAs have engaged regularly in a high-level dialogue through extensive discussions on a broad bilateral, regional and global agenda.
"Following the launch of the India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) by Prime Minister Modi and President Joseph Biden on the sidelines of the Quad Summit in Tokyo on May 24, 2022, the two NSAs have driven concrete initiatives between the two countries across a range of areas including Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, Semiconductors, Telecommunications, Defence and Space," the release said.
"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," it added.
At an event at IIT Delhi earlier in the day, Sullivan said that United States is now finalizing the necessary steps to remove long-standing regulations that have prevented civil nuclear cooperation between India's leading nuclear entities and US Companies.
Sullivan also said his visit to India is likely the last trip overseas that he will lead as NSA and he cannot think of a better way to end his tenure in the White House.
"Although former President Bush and former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh laid out a vision of civil nuclear cooperation nearly 20 years ago, we have yet to fully realize it. But as we work to build clean energy technologies to enable growth in artificial intelligence, and to help US and Indian energy companies unlock their innovation potential, the Biden administration has determined that it is past time to take the next major step in cementing this partnership," he said.
"So today I can announce that the United States is now finalizing the necessary steps to remove long-standing regulations that have prevented civil nuclear cooperation between India's leading nuclear entities and US Companies. The formal paperwork will be done soon but this will be an opportunity to turn the page on some of the frictions of the past and create opportunities for entities that have been on restricted lists in the United States to come off those lists and enter into deep collaboration with the United States, with our private sector, scientists and technologists to move civil nuclear cooperation forward together," he added.
Sullivan expressed optimism that the technological cooperation between the United States and India will get strengthened in the coming years.
"This is likely the last trip overseas that I will lead as NSA and I cannot think of a better way to end my tenure in the White House, visiting India on my final overseas trip to mark the advances that we have made together over the past four years. This is a shared and historic achievement...I have every reason to believe that within the next decade, we will see American and Indian firms working together to build the next generation of semiconductor technologies, American and Indian astronauts conducting cutting-edge research and space exploration together," he said.
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