Ministry of External Affairs has set up New and Emerging Strategic Technologies (NEST) division
Key highlights
- The Ministry has set up a New and Emerging Strategic Technologies (NEST) Division to engage in technology diplomacy and deal with the foreign policy and international legal aspects of new and emerging technologies.
- The Division will function under the supervision of a Head of Division.
- It will enable more active participation of India in global forums in the area of technology governance (5G and artificial Intelligence) and promote our national interests in that context.
- It will also help assess foreign policy and international legal implications of new and emerging technologies and technology-based resources, and recommend appropriate foreign policy choice.
- It will negotiate technology governance rules, standards and architecture, suited to India’s conditions, in multilateral and plurilateral frameworks.
- NEST will also undertake the creation of HR capacity within the ministry for technology diplomacy work by utilizing the existing talent-pool and facilitating functional specialization of foreign service officers in various technology domains
- NEST will also be involved in negotiations to safeguard Indian interests at multilateral fora like the United Nations or the G20 where rules governing the use and access to such technologies could be decided.
