Defence Minister Rajnath Singh pays tribute to soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery, US

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Virginia on Wednesday (local time) visited United States' Arlington National Cemetery and offered tributes to soldiers who laid down their lives. Taking to Twitter, the Defence Minister wrote, "Offered tributes to the fallen soldiers. I salute their exemplary courage."

America's largest military cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery is a United States military cemetery located in Arlington County, Virginia. It is America's largest military cemetery and serves as the final resting place for more than 400,000 veterans and their immediate family from the fronts of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as World Wars I and II, the Korean conflict, Vietnam, the Cold War and America's Civil War.

Rajnath Singh is in the United States for 2+2 ministerial dialogue which was held earlier in the day.  Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper hosted Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh for the dialogue in Washington.  The meeting between leaders focused on deepening bilateral strategic and defence cooperation, exchanging perspectives on global developments, and the shared leadership between the two countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

Second US-India 2+2 dialogue 

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited Naval Air Station base at Norfolk in Virginia in the US during which he observed a static display and a Boeing fighter jet demonstration as the two sides reflected on the "strong defence ties."

The inaugural India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue was held in New Delhi in September 2018 in the presence of Pompeo and former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. The Dialogue was launched as a reflection of the shared commitment by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump to provide a positive, forward-looking vision for the India-US strategic partnership and to promote synergy in their diplomatic and security efforts.

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(with ANI inputs)