India, UK ink new security initiative

New Delhi: British foreign secretary David Lammy held wide-ranging talks with external affairs minister S. Jaishankar in the national capital on Wednesday. New Delhi said the TSI will be "coordinated by the national security advisors of both countries through existing and new dialogues" and that the "NSAs will set the priority areas and identify interdependencies for cooperation on critical and emerging tech that will, in turn, help build meaningful technology value chain partnerships between our two countries". The progress made on the initiative will be reviewed on a half-yearly basis at the deputy NSA level, New Delhi said, adding that the two nations will "also set up a bilateral mechanism led by India’s ministry of external affairs and the UK government for promotion of trade in critical and emerging technologies, including resolution of relevant licensing or regulatory issues". On Wednesday, Mr Lammy also called on Mr Modi, who said he "appreciated the priority accorded" by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to "broaden and deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership". Earlier in the day, upon the arrival of Mr Lammy in New Delhi, Britain said that "economic, domestic and global security" is "at the heart of the foreign secretary’s first visit to India as he travels to New Delhi to unlock the full potential of the UK-India partnership".