NEW DELHI: US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan Monday praised his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval for focusing on technology as a driver for stronger bilateral ties, while emphasising the role of close professional and personal rapport they shared over the past four years in facilitating the process.
Speaking at IIT-Delhi, Sullivan said, “…one person in particular that I would like to recognise is my counterpart, Indian NSA Ajit Doval, because it was in part his vision that technology, and particularly advanced technologies of the future, would be a propellant for the US-India relationship in a way that could take our two countries forward, advance our respective interests, protect our respective values, and build a better world for everybody.”
Sullivan, who demits office shortly, also highlighted the importance of the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) in promoting collaboration on the development, distribution, and protection of critical technologies, amid intensifying geopolitical competition. “Through this partnership, through this initiative, and through so many other things that Ajit and I have had to deal with over the course of the past four years, he and I have developed a deep personal relationship, a deep professional relationship. And, it is that relationship, in part, I believe, that has helped play such a critical role in ensuring that the US-India partnership has reached that new high level that I talked about before,” Sullivan said.
He said, “Now, the fundamental premise of iCET is that in an era of renewed geopolitical competition, US and India have to collaborate on development, diffusion and protection of critical technologies.”
