2+2 Ministerial Dialogue to be held in Delhi
New Delhi: India and the US will discuss the salient regional and global issues during their third edition of 2+2 ministerial dialogue, scheduled to take place on October 27.
The dialogue will entail a comprehensive discussion on cross cutting bilateral issues of mutual interest, Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said during the virtual weekly briefing here on Thursday.
This time India is hosting the 2+2 ministerial dialogue.
US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark T Esper will be visiting India on October 26-27 to participate in the dialogue.
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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar be leading the Indian delegations.
The next week's US-India's 2+2 dialogue will be focused on challenges in the Indo-Pacific region and the ways to overcome those challenges, said US Defence Secretary Mark Esper.
Speaking during a conversation with Frederick Kempe, President of Atlantic Council on Tuesday, Mr Esper said, "Secretary Michael Pompeo and I will be there next week. It's our second 2 2 with the Indians, the third ever for the United States and India. And it's very important. India will well be the most consequential partner for us, I think, in the Indo-Pacific for sure, in this century."
He further said that the countries in the Indo-Pacific region recognise what China is doing.
The previous two dialogues were held in New Delhi in September 2018 and in Washington DC in December 2019.
The discussions in these dialogues have enabled both sides to further progress the bilateral relationship and strengthen the institutional framework for cooperation across all sectors, he said.
Mr Esper and Mr Pompeo will also have bilateral meetings with their respective Indian counterparts.
‘‘They will also be meeting NSA Ajit Doval and will jointly call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India and the US have a comprehensive global strategic partnership which includes political, security and defence, economic, commercial, technology and people to people contacts, the spokesperson said.
‘‘We have regular dialogue for various levels to discuss ongoing bilateral cooperation and to exchange views on developments in the region,’’ Mr Srivastava said.
