- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in New Delhi to co-chair the 5th India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue.
- Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Blinken’s visit will further boost the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.
- “A warm welcome to US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken, the visit will give a further boost to the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership!” Bagchi wrote on ‘X’.
- The talks, as per news agency citing officials, will pick up the threads from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s June visit to Washington and US President Joe Biden’s trip to New Delhi for the G20 summit in September.
- As per the Indian Defence Ministry, several strategic defence and technology issues are expected to be discussed at the 2+2 dialogue and during the bilateral meeting between Singh and Austin.
Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin are in Delhi for the fifth edition of the ‘2+2’ foreign and defence ministerial dialogue which is aimed at taking forward the India-US futuristic roadmap for deeper strategic cooperation.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks on Friday morning ahead of the high-profile ‘2+2’ ministerial dialogue.
Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin are in Delhi for the fifth edition of the ‘2+2’ foreign and defence ministerial dialogue which is aimed at taking forward the India-US futuristic roadmap for deeper strategic cooperation.
The Indian delegation at the talks will be led by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Jaishankar.
The defence ministry said a number of strategic, defence and technology issues are expected to be discussed at the ‘2+2’ dialogue and the bilateral meeting between Singh and Austin.
On Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the ‘2+2’ dialogue will enable a high-level review of the progress being made in cross-cutting aspects of defence and security cooperation, technology value chain collaborations and people-to-people ties.
“The ministers will take the opportunity to progress the futuristic roadmap for the India-US partnership as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joseph Biden, in their discussions in June and September this year,” the MEA said in a statement.
It said both sides will also take stock of contemporary regional issues and exchange views about shared priorities for augmenting cooperation in multilateral platforms, and through frameworks such as Quad.
(With inputs from agencies)
