- Monday, November 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA and the US have decided to form a joint working group on industrial security to help a deeper collaboration between them on cutting-edge technologies.
The in-principle decision to set up the group was taken at a five-day Indo-US Industrial Security Agreement (ISA) summit that got over on Friday (1), official sources said.
The summit, which was held in Delhi, was aimed at working on a protocol for the exchange of classified information between the defence industries of the two nations.
Leading American defence firms were pushing for a framework to ensure the safety and security of critical technologies and classified defence information when they are shared with the private sector in India.
The ISA was signed in December 2019 to facilitate the exchange of classified information between the defence industries of India and the US.
“During the summit, both the sides agreed in-principle to establish the Indo-US Industrial Security Joint Working Group,” the defence ministry said.
“This group will meet periodically to align the policies and procedures expeditiously that will allow the defence industries to collaborate on cutting edge defence technologies,” the ministry said in a statement.
The summit, which is held to create a roadmap for the implementation of the ISA, was co-chaired by Designated Security Authorities (DSAs), Anurag Bajpai and David Paul Bagnati, from the Indian and US sides respectively.
“The DSAs also visited the Indian defence industry in preparation for the roadmap,” the ministry said.
The Indo-US defence ties have been on an upswing in the last few years. In June 2016, the US had designated India a “Major Defence Partner”.
The two countries have also signed key defence and security pacts over the past few years, including the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016 under which their militaries can use each other’s bases for repair and replenishment of supplies as well as provide for deeper cooperation.
The two sides also signed COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement) in 2018 that paves way for interoperability between the two armies and provides for the sale of high-end technology from the US to India.
In October 2020, India and the US sealed the BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement) agreement to further boost bilateral defence ties. The pact provides for sharing of high-end military technology, logistics and geospatial maps between the two democracies.
