Published 15:37 IST, December 13th 2019
India-US gear up for Second Round Of 2+2 Ministerial Meeting in Washington
S. Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh from India will be attending the meeting in the United States with Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Sect of Defence Mark
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Building on success of first round of talks between India and US under what is called 2+2 dialogue, two countries are set for second round.
second 2+2 dialogue between India and US will take place on Thursday, December 18 in Washington during which two countries will review entire spectrum of strategic ties between m.
India’s Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar and Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh will be hosted by ir US counterparts--Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State and Mark T. Esper, Secretary of Defence in Washington. Ways of strengning strategic and defence cooperation along with or global development issues will be entre point of discussion.
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United States’ Department of State in Washington – organiser of meeting – said, “this year’s meeting reflects rapid growth of vital strategic partnership between United States and India” and focus would be on “deepening bilateral strategic and defence cooperation, exchanging perspectives on global developments, and our shared leership in Indo-Pacific region.”
Initiated in September 2018 2+2 is seen as a step towards bolstering ties between two largest democracies in world.
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Morgan Ortagus, spokesperson at US State Department said that ministerial dialogue symbolizes growing partnership between India and US.
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“This year's dialogue is an opportunity to build on last year's success and forge an even stronger partnership,” she ded.
Highlighting commonalities between India and US, Ortagus said that both countries are working towards a stronger partnership.
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Emphasising same in a video statement she said:
“We are both democracies with increasingly robust people-to-people ties. We are partners on sea, in air and even in . At last year’2+2 dialogue, United States and India anunced several significant agreements, including a defence information-sharing agreement and recently concluded Tiger Triumph tri-service military exercise. This year’s 2+2 dialogue is an opportunity to build on last year’s success and to expand cooperation in areas such as security, science and techlogy, and counterterrorism.”
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To which Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson for Ministry of External Affairs, India asserted that India-US relations have strengned since inauguration of ministerial-level meeting.
“ dialogue will take stock of growing relationship between two countries and provide strategic guidance for furr development of relationship”, said Kumar.
14:53 IST, December 13th 2019