Pompeo, Esper at National War Memorial in Delhi
New Delhi: US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and US Secretary of Defence Mark T Esper on Tuesday paid tribute at National War Memorial (NWM) here.
The two ministers are in India to participate in 2+2 India-US Ministerial Dialogue to be held on Tuesday.
Mr Pompeo and Mr Esper arrived India on Monday and held talks with their Indian counterparts S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh.
Mr Singh and Mr Esper here discussed the issues pertaining to further deepening of defence ties between the two countries.
“India is delighted to host the US Secretary of Defence, Dr. Mark Esper. Our talks today were fruitful, aimed at further deepening defence cooperation in a wide range of areas. Today’s discussions will add new vigour to India-US defence relations & mutual cooperation. @EsperDoD,” Mr Singh said in a tweet.
While Dr Jaishankar and his US counterpart Mike Pompeo discussed Indo-Pacific engagement, Quad, maritime security, counter-terrorism, open connectivity and resilient supply chains among others.
The two ministers had warm and productive dinner engagement on Monday during which they followed up on their Tokyo discussions and focussed on key bilateral, regional and global issues, sources in the government establishment said here.
India and the US have said they would sign the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (BECA) setting the stage for a successful round of 2+2 talks between the defence and foreign ministers of the two countries on Tuesday.
The pact represents a deepening of India-US security military ties, a testament to the rapid warming of ties in the short span of two decades.
