US NSA Sullivan to visit India on January 5-6, hold meetings with NSA Doval, EAM Jaishankar

United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will be on visiting India on January 5 and 6, during which he will hold meetings with several key Indian dignitaries including NSA Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the White House confirmed on Saturday.

During his meeting with Ajit Doval, Sullivan will discuss issues ranging from space, defence, strategic technology cooperation as well as shared security priorities in the Indo-Pacific region, US National Security Council Spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement.

“National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will travel to New Delhi, India on January 5-6 for a capstone meeting with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval that will span a range of issues across the breadth of the US-India partnership – from space, defense, and strategic technology cooperation to shared security priorities in the Indo-Pacific and beyond”, the statement from White House noted.

Sullivan will meet with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and other Indian leaders during his visit to India.

The US NSA will also make a visit to IIT Delhi, where he will meet Indian entreprenurs and discuss the India-US alliance on innovation and iCET initiative.

“He will also visit the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, where he will meet with young Indian entrepreneurs and give a speech outlining the significant steps the United States and India have taken together to strengthen our innovation alliance under the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET),” the statement added.

Earlier on Friday, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby had also shared the details of Sullivan’s visit to India, which will be his final trip to the Indo-Pacific region as NSA.

“He’s very excited and looking forward to these conversations at this critical time”, Kirby added.

The announcement of Sullivan’s visit was also confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs during the weekly press briefing on Friday where it was observed that the discussions between Doval and Sullivan will cover topics to strengthen the bilateral relationship.

During his recent visit to the US, EAM Jaishankar also met US NSA Jake Sullivan and the two leaders held wide-ranging discussions on the progress of the India-US strategic partnership and exchanged views on current regional and global developments.

In October last year, US NSA Jake Sullivan held a phone conversation with NSA Ajit Doval, discussing critical regional security developments and emphasising the necessity for ongoing efforts to bolster stability in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.