The United States is finalizing steps to lift barriers on civil nuclear cooperation with Indian firms, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in New Delhi on Monday.
Sullivan said, “This will be an opportunity to turn the page on some of the frictions of the past and create opportunities for entities that have been on restricted lists in the United States to come off those lists and enter into deep collaborations with our private sector, with our scientists and technologists.”
Sullivan’s visit to India came two weeks before a new administration under incoming President-elect Donald Trump takes charge.
Speaking at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, he called India-U.S. collaboration crucial for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.
Sullivan said that an initiative launched by the two countries two years ago to bolster their strategic technology partnership was an important component of the relationship.
Sullivan met Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval and Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi.
A landmark deal signed in 2007 between India and the United States ended three decades of sanctions imposed on New Delhi for conducting nuclear tests and opened the door for India to get civil nuclear technology. The agreement was expected to help India meet its burgeoning energy needs.
