India and US to Set-Up Joint Working Group in Defence Industrial Security

Key highlights:

• Held to develop protocol for exchange of classified information between defence industries of both countries
• In-principle agreement to establish Indo-US Industrial Security Joint Working Group
• Group to meet regularly to align policies for defence industries to collaborate on critical defence technologies

The Industrial Security Agreement (ISA) summit between India and the United States was held between September 27to October 01, 2021 at New Delhi. The summit was organised to develop protocol for the exchange of classified information between the defence industries of both the nations. The Summit was led by Designated Security Authorities (DSAs) namely Shri Anurag Bajpai and Mr David Paul Bagnati from Indian and US sides respectively.

The ISA was signed in December 2019 to facilitate the exchange of classified information between the defence industries of both the countries. It was held to create a roadmap for the implementation of the ISA. The DSAs also visited Indian defence industry in preparation for the roadmap.During the summit, both the sides agreed in-principle to establish the Indo-US Industrial Security Joint Working Group. This group will meet periodically to align the policies and procedures expeditiously that will allow the defence industries to collaborate on cutting edge defence technologies.