India and US unveil road map for defence, tech ties

WASHINGTON: At the inaugural dialogue of the initiative on critical and emerging technologies ICET) in Washington DC on Tuesday, India and the United States US) unveiled an ambitious road map to position each other as trusted technology partners”, deepen the defence relationship with a focus on co-production and co-development, and institutionalise a standing mechanism to overcome regulatory barriers and export controls, particularly on the American side.

Led by national security adviser NSA) Ajit Doval and his counterpart Jake Sullivan, the ICET dialogue was a result of an understanding between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden to create the mechanism led by the two national security councils in May 2022. India and the US also agreed to deepen cooperation in artificial intelligence, quantum, space, semiconductor manufacturing and scientific research and development.

Strategic commitment

A government of India statement said that ICET aimed to position the two countries as trusted technology partners by building technology value chains and support the co-development and co-production of items”.

A White House fact sheet on the meeting said that ICET aimed to elevate and expand our strategic technology partnership and defence industrial cooperation”. It added that both countries had affirmed that the ways in which technology was designed, developed, governed, and used” should be shaped by shared democratic values and respect for universal human rights”. We are committed to fostering an open, accessible, and secure technology ecosystem, based on mutual trust and confidence, that will reinforce our democratic values and democratic institutions.”

The framing is seen as a clear reference to the shared concerns in both countries about China gaining an edge in these tech domains.

The Washington Post quoted Sullivan as saying that the backdrop of strategic competition with China had been a feature of the US-India relationship for over a decade now. But, he added, that a big part of the story was fundamentally about a bet on high tech and an industrial innovation policy”.

Overcoming barriers