India-US 2+2 dialogue: Packed schedule awaits Pompeo, Esper in New Delhi next week
Oct 22, 2020
New Delhi [India], October 22 : US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo and Secretary of Defence Mark T Esper will have a packed schedule during their India visit next week. They will participate in third India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue along with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on October 27 and will also have bilateral meetings with their counterparts.
They will also be meeting NSA Ajit Doval and will jointly call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is the third meeting in 2+2 format between the two countries.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at the regular media briefing here on Thursday that the third India-US 2+2 ministerial dialogue will entail a comprehensive discussion on cross-cutting bilateral issues of mutual interest.
"In addition, both sides will also exchange views on salient regional and global issues," he said.
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," Srivastava said.
The spokesperson said India and US have a comprehensive global strategic partnership which includes political, security and defence, economic, commercial, technology and people-to-people contacts.
"We have regular dialogue for various levels to discuss ongoing bilateral cooperation and to exchange views on developments in the region," he said.
