India, South Korea, and the US will start an informal trilateral technology dialogue in the first quarter of 2024 in response to China’s rapid progress in critical technologies within the Indo-Pacific region.
The decision was taken at the inaugural US-South Korea Next Generation Critical & Emerging Technologies Dialogue held in Seoul on Friday.
The two sides agreed to hold “National Security Council and National Security Office-led consultations with like-minded partners on critical and emerging technologies including through launching an informal trilateral technology dialogue with India in the first quarter of 2024″.
Worth mentioning that the development comes as India concluded a series of pacts with advanced countries to spur innovation and investment in critical technologies.
An Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), announced by India and the US in 2022, has been one high- profile example.
The aim of this programme is to increase cooperation in strategic and defence technologies between the two countries, including their private sector and academia.
Further, South Korea and India have also pushed for increased cooperation on critical technologies.
Both the countries reviewed progress on various areas of bilateral Special Strategic Partnership, including in trade and investment, defence production, semiconductors and EV battery technology.
Besides, they also exchanged views on regional and global issues.
Cooperation in critical and emerging technologies has been a key focus for bilateral ties.
The matter was discussed during Deputy National Security Adviser Vikram Misri’s meeting with South Korea’s Foreign Minister Park Jin in Seoul this August.
The latter also visited India in April, focusing on trade, investment and technology cooperation.
The new India-US-Korea dialogue mechanism marks one of India’s first such diplomatic arrangements on technology cooperation.
However, India is part of the four-nation Quad’s efforts to cooperate on 5G, 6G and other technologies.
Source: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/india-s-korea-us-to-set-up-tech-trialogue-11702225030871.html
