FM holds talks with US NSF chief, discusses collaboration in science and technology

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday met Director of the US National Science Foundation (NSF) Sethuraman Panchanathan and discussed fostering ties in domains such as artificial intelligence, space, agriculture and health. The two sides discussed areas of collaboration related to science and technology (S&T) which emerged during the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden during the QUAD Summit in Tokyo in May, the finance ministry said in a series of tweets.

"Both sides emphasised to further enhance and strengthen the time-tested, democratic & value-based mutual partnership in specific domains such as artificial intelligence data science quantum computing, space, agriculture and health," it added.

Panchanathan indicated that many projects will be launched soon in association with the Department of Science and Technology under six technology innovation hubs.


"While talking about the mission and objectives of @NSF, @DrPanch elaborated on achieving innovation at speed and scale with inclusion and solution-based approach in research," the ministry tweeted.

"Union Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman talked about India's achievement in fostering innovation through #AtalInnovationMission, #Start-upIndia, #StandUpIndia, reforms in patent processes and advancement of appropriate technology in agriculture," it added.