India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval visited Washington DC from 30 January to 1 February 2023. He was accompanied by senior Indian government officials as well as leaders of Indian industry. During the visit, Doval interacted with US policymakers and stakeholders across Government, Congress, business, academic and research communities on a range of bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest. Apart from his meeting with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, he also met Secretary of State Antony Blinken1, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, Acting Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, key Senators and industry leaders.
Together with NSA Sullivan, NSA Doval co-chaired the inaugural meeting of the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) at the White House on 31 January 2023, translating into action the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joseph Biden during their meeting in Tokyo in May 2022. NSA Doval was joined at the launch by the Ambassador of India to the United States, the Principal Scientific Advisor, the Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, the Chairman of ISRO, the Scientific Advisor to the Raksha Mantri, the Director General, DRDO, and other senior officials from National Security Council Secretariat and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. On the US side, the NASA Administrator, the Director, National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Deputy National Security Advisor, amongst others participated.
The discussions during this visit form the basis for intensifying India-US cooperation in cutting-edge sectors and are truly reflective of the maturity of the India-US comprehensive, global strategic partnership. Both countries agreed to maintain sustained attention to achieve outcome oriented deliverables within definitive timelines.