New Delhi: The Indo-American cooperation on critical and emerging technologies (iCET) would be broadened to include other critical digital infrastructure, the deputy national security advisers (NSA) of the two countries agreed Monday.
The scope of iCET would now incorporate biotechnology, critical minerals and rare earth processing technologies, digital connectivity and digital public infrastructure, and advanced materials, a statement by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said.
This was decided in a meeting between India’s Deputy NSA Vikram Misri and his US counterpart Jonathan Finer in New Delhi Monday.
The deputies met to follow up on the decisions taken by the two NSAs Ajit Doval and Jake Sullivan in January this year. This was the first comprehensive mid-term review of the iCET initiative, the statement said, adding that the two also “reviewed key bilateral issues and exchanged views on regional and global developments”.
The iCET was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden in May 2022 to “facilitate outcome-oriented cooperation in new and emerging technologies”. iCET is co-led by the National Security Council Secretariat in India.
The two deputy NSAs also stressed the importance of easing regulations to facilitate high-tech collaborations and transfer of technology. “Their discussions served to highlight the immense potential to tap synergies between their domestic initiatives and boost the competitiveness of industry in both countries,” the statement read.
Misri and Finer also took stock of the progress made in building technology value chains under the iCET framework. They were satisfied, the foreign ministry said, with “ongoing collaborations in diverse domains including semiconductors, quantum, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and High-Performance Computing (HPC), defence innovation, space and advanced telecommunications” among others.
Finer will also attend the Global Technology Summit happening in Delhi from 4-6 December.
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