NSA Sullivan to visit India to finalise important ongoing initiatives: White House
Washington (PTI): Outgoing US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will travel to India on January 5 and 6 for a final round of talks with his counterpart Ajit K Doval and other top government officials on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues and to finalise some ongoing initiatives.
His visit to India comes as the Joe Biden administration prepares to wrap up its four-year term.
Sullivan, 48, the youngest national security advisor when President Biden appointed him on January 20, 2021, would also deliver a major India-centric foreign policy speech at IIT, New Delhi during his last trip to India before leaving office.
Congressman Michael Waltz would succeed him on January 20, when Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.
"National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will be travelling to New Delhi, India, on January 5 and 6 for a capstone meeting with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval," White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said on Friday.
"It will span a range of issues across the breadth of our partnership with India, from space, defence, and strategic technology cooperation, all the way also to shared security priorities in the Indo-Pacific and beyond," he said.
During the visit, Sullivan will also meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and other Indian leaders.
"He will also visit the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, where he will be able to meet with young Indian entrepreneurs and give a speech outlining the significant steps that the United States and India have taken together to strengthen our innovation alliance under the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology, otherwise known as iCET," Kirby said.
This will be Sullivan’s final trip to the Indo-Pacific region as National Security Advisor.
"He’s very excited and looking forward to these conversations at this critical time," Kirby said.
The main purpose of Sullivan's visit will be a capstone engagement and dialogue with his counterpart, a senior Biden administration official told reporters during a conference call Friday afternoon.
The two national security advisors will take stock of the progress that the two countries have made over the last four years, which has been a historic and transformative period in the bilateral relationship, the official said.
They will also "continue to finalise some ongoing initiatives that were important priorities for us to wrap up to continue our technology cooperation through the end of the administration and to identify new opportunities that we hope with an upcoming team, will continue to take forward,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
"From the views of the Biden administration, the US-Indian relationship has not only been one of the bright points and a real foreign policy priority and an area of legacy achievement for the Biden administration, but it is also a relationship where they have seen continued bipartisan support and momentum from administration to administration in the United States," said the official.
Sullivan's speech at IIT Delhi will highlight India's importance to US priorities in the Indo-Pacific region and worldwide.
“We see this as a partnership that is really not subject to huge partisan swings in the United States but has had a really enduring basis of support that we expect will continue to move forward,” said the official.
The US delegation led by Sullivan will also have members from other government departments.
“We will have the opportunity to meet with business leaders as well as young entrepreneurs in India, and really emphasise how much the progress that we have made in this relationship under the Biden administration is not only due to the work that has been done at a government to government level, but I think increasingly, due to the fantastic and strong relationships that exist at the people-to-people level, at company-to-company level, between the United States and India,” said the official.
“Overall, the message that we intend to leave with at the end of this trip is one of real gratitude for the friendship and the close partnership that President Biden and Prime Minister Modi have enjoyed over the last four years," the official said.
"We see a lot of opportunity in the future for the things that we have started with over the last four years, whether that is commercial space cooperation, looking at opportunities in the future for civil nuclear cooperation and more cooperation on green energy technology," the official said.
"We think all of these are poised, really, for exponential growth in the future. We are really proud that the Biden administration has put down such a solid foundation and made further growth possible,” the official said.
A second senior administration official told reporters that Sullivan will be taking up several issues with Indian officials on this trip.
The first one is advancing the civil nuclear partnership, looking at ways to advance cooperation around small modular reactor technology and other forms of civil nuclear cooperation.
The second issue involves addressing China's overcapacity, whether in the context of legacy chips or biopharmaceutical supply chains. It also includes aligning strategies on risks related to information and communication technology, as well as implementing protection measures focused on cyber technology.
The third includes discussions around artificial intelligence and national security following the conclusion of their own national security memorandum on AI and other regulations, the official said.
The fourth point to be discussed is promoting the new commercial space cooperation as the US finalised amendments to its own Missile Technology Control Regime for licensing policies.
Another issue to be discussed is unlocking funding for the US-India R&D partnerships under the university-based local challenges institute, the second official said.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
