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Ajit Doval-Jake Sullivan hold talks on the sidelines of the Jeddah summit
The Ukraine dialogue hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was attended by 40 senior officials.
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For National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the Jeddah peace summit was not only to push Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “dialogue and diplomacy” formula to end the 17-month-long Ukraine war but also to ensure that India-US agreements signed during June 23 visit to Washington are on implementation track.
The Ukraine dialogue hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was attended by 40 senior officials including 33 NSA of other countries including US, France, UK, EU and China’s special envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui. Even though no consensus was reached on principles to end the Ukraine war, the senior officials recorded a forward momentum by understanding each other’s key positions while agreeing that the war was economically a disaster for the Global South.
While White House is still to come out with a statement on the two day Jeddah summit, it is understood that NSA Doval met his US counterpart Jake Sullivan on the sidelines to review the key decisions taken during PM Modi’s visit and Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) dialogue earlier this year. The NSA apparently met his key counterparts including the French official during the summit and exchanged each other’s positions on other global issues.
While Doval and Sullivan have a hotline between them, the two NSAs are also the guiding force on the major India-US initiatives unveiled this year. The GE f414 jet engine deal, MoU for which was signed between HAL and GE during the visit, is awaiting approval in the US Congress and progress is being made on India’s plans to acquire General Atomics MQ 9B high altitude long endurance drones for the Indian armed forces. General Atomics will also set-up a comprehensive Global Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility within India to boost the country's indigenous defence capabilities. The two NSAs apparently also exchanged notes on Indo-Pacific and terrorism.
The Jeddah summit was also important for NSA level interactions, a month before India hosts the G-20 summit on September 9-10. With representatives of virtually all G-20 countries barring Russia present at Jeddah, India has been able to assess the global mood on Ukraine and what steps that are needed to be taken for global economic recovery with special focus on Global South.
