Deputy NSA nudges Japan, South Korea on tech collaboration

Deputy national security advisor (NSA) Vikram Misri visited South Korea and Japan this week, eyeing to expand strategic partnership with a specific focus on defence sector and critical and emerging technologies.

India and Japan held their second deputy NSA-level strategic dialogue on Thursday and discussed issues such as enhancing cooperation in defence, economic security and critical and emerging technologies. Misri and Japan’s deputy secretary general Keiichi Ichikawa also exchanged views on regional and global developments, presumably including those in the Taiwan Straits and North Korea, according to people aware of the matter.

Earlier, Misri met South Korea’s NSA Cho Tae-young in Seoul and discussed defence cooperation, economic security, supply chain resilience and critical and emerging technologies. The deputy NSA also met Kim Tae-hyo, South Korea’s first deputy director of national security, and they discussed enhancing cooperation in a wide range of bilateral areas, including defence industry and technology, economic security and supply chain resilience, enhancing Korean investments in India, and science and technology issues, said the people cited earlier.Misri invited South Korean companies to invest in the dedicated defence corridors in India. India’s defence companies will participate in the aerospace and defence trade show ADEX in Seoul in October. India has been eyeing to tap both Japanese and South Korean expertise in the fields of critical and emerging technologies. Japan and South Korea also continue to be among top investors in India across sectors.