Washington: India, Israel and the US have earnestly begun trilateral cooperation on digital leadership and innovation, a top American official has said, asserting that it is right that the three countries play a key role in delivering the next generation 5G technology in a way that is “open, interoperable, reliable and secure.”
The 5G collaboration is the first step and just the tip of the iceberg, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Deputy Administrator, Bonnie Glick, told PTI after the US-India-Israel forum on strategic, tech and development/water cooperation discussion last week.
We’ll collaborate in science, research and development in coming up with the next generations of technologies But by partnering by officially, affirming the importance of this relationship, we’ll advance it, she said.
The US enjoys a strong relationship with both the countries, based on shared democratic and free-market principles, the official said.
We are thrilled to work with these partners to solve the world’s development challenges, Glick said in her keynote address to the virtual US-India-Israel summit focused on trilateral partnerships in the strategic, technology and development arenas.
Organised by the Asia-Pacific Institute of the American Jewish Committee in partnership with Indiaspora, the Sunday Guardian Foundation and the Global Indian-Jewish Relations Institute, the summit among others was addressed by Israel’s Ambassador to India Dr Ron Malka and India’s Ambassador to Israel Sanjeev Singla.
Glick said: One area we’ve been cooperating on is digital leadership and innovation, particularly in the next generation 5G technology. In July, I chaired a roundtable discussion with several like-minded donors on 5G and digital development. To me, it was extremely important that India and Israel be part of that conversation. And the discussion was richer because of their contributions .
Silicon Valley, Bangalore and Tel Aviv have all earned reputations as leading, innovative technology hubs, she said.So, it’s only right that our three nations play a key role in delivering the promise of 5G in a way that is open, interoperable, reliable and secure.
“We cannot allow any nation to dominate this technology or use it to dominate other nations, the USAID Deputy Administrator said, apparently referring to Chinese telecom giants like Huawei and ZTE.
In July this year, the US Federal Communications Commission designated Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE as national security threats , saying the major step was aimed at protecting American communications networks from security risks.
It said that Huawei and ZTE have substantial ties to the Chinese government, Chinese law requiring them to assist in espionage activities.
Following a trade war, the US and China signed the first phase of a trade deal under which Beijing agreed to buy at least USD 200 billion more in US products and services in 2020-2021, the two-year period than it did in 2017.
Commenting on the collaboration, Glick said when Israel, the US and India collaborate in defence, much of that collaboration and discussion is done in closed rooms, because the topics are highly sensitive.

Press Trust of India