Washington DC/UNI: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his US counterpart Jake Sullivan on Wednesday formally launched US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) and reviewed defence cooperation and regional security among other issues.

NSA Ajit Doval also held important meetings with other key US security officials.

"NSA Ajit Doval and US NSA Jake Sullivan @JakeSullivan46 reviewed ongoing bilateral initiatives, the upcoming launch of Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) and shared assessments of major global and regional developments during a productive meeting," said Indian Embassy in Washington in a tweet.

"Transforming vision into action! NSAs Ajit Doval & Jake Sullivan formally launched U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET). Announced by Narendra Modi and @POTUS, iCET reflects India US convergence of strategic, commercial and scientific approaches in the field of technology," the Embassy added in a thread.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden announced the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) in May 2022 to elevate and expand strategic technology partnership and defense industrial cooperation between the governments, businesses, and academic institutions of the two countries.

The US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) is aimed at strengthening partnership on the technologies that will drive global growth, bolster economic competitiveness, and protect shared national security interests.

"Today, the two National Security Advisors led the inaugural meeting of the iCET in Washington, DC.

"They were joined on the U.S. side by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Director of the National Science Foundation, the Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, and senior officials from the Department of State, Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, and the National Security Council," a While House statement stated.

India's Department of Science and Technology and United States' National Science Foundation also signed an Implementation Arrangement for bilateral cooperation in the field of Science and Technology.

"Deepening bilateral cooperation in Science and Technology. Delighted to sign the Implementation Arrangement between India's Dept of Science and Technology @IndiaDST and United States' National Science Foundation @NSF, along with my good friend Panch Sethuraman Panchanathan and in the presence of NSAs Ajit Doval and Jake Sullivan," said Ambassador of India to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu in a tweet.

US Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr Kathleen Hicks also called on NSA Ajit Doval.

They discussed a range of topics including US- India defence cooperation and regional security issues, the Indian Embassy in Washington said in a tweet.