Jake Sullivan proposes new defense cooperation agreements with India after his visit to New Delhi

The United States and India are envisioning new defense cooperation agreements. It is one of the big takeaways from National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's visit to New Delhi this week. The Biden administration and Narendra Modi’s government agreed to improve their cooperation to eliminate barriers that have long hindered bilateral strategic trade.

Jake Sullivan's visit was the first by a high-ranking U.S. official to India since Narendra Modi once again declared himself the winner of the elections and took office as prime minister for the third time.

The meeting was of utmost importance for the United States, which since the start of the war in Ukraine has been working to get closer to India, a growing power in Asia. Modi’s position has often been described as ambiguous due to the lack of a firm condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine. India benefits from the blockades that Western powers exert on Russia to provide an outlet for Moscow's products and resources at low prices.

China's growing shadow over the Pacific is another of the great incentives for the United States to close durable and sustainable agreements with India. The country is the only other regional power that can stand up to Beijing in the long term. Relations between both countries are often turbulent and have several open fronts, such as the bordering territories on the Tibetan-Qinghai plateau.

Throughout the two-day visit, Sullivan held several meetings with his counterpart Ajit Doval. At the center of these meetings is the Critical Emerging Technologies Initiative, a cooperative development roadmap that both governments launched in 2022.

This program aims to promote collaboration in the production of semiconductors and the development of artificial intelligence and was decisive in sealing an agreement that will allow General Electric to partner with the Indian Hindustan Aeronautics to produce jet engines in India.

As a result of their meetings, the two security officials emphasized the need for greater collaboration, focused on funding innovative research in areas such as semiconductor manufacturing, clean energy and machine learning. They also discussed the possible co-production of ground warfare systems, according to a joint statement.