2 + 2 Talks: This will be the third edition of the 2 + 2 talks between India and the United States. (Proceedings)
New Delhi:
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark T Esper head to New Delhi for the third edition of 2 + 2 talks with their Indian counterparts, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and Minister of Defender Rajnath Singh. The talks come eight months after US President Donald Trump’s visit to India and days before the country’s presidential elections.
Ahead of the important talks, the US State Department said the country welcomes India’s emergence as a leading regional and global power. “As outlined in our National Security Strategy, the United States welcomes India’s emergence as a leading regional and global power. The United States looks forward to working closely with India during its next term on the UN Security Council,” he said. United States.
Pompeo’s visit marks the fourth visit to India by a Secretary of State during the Trump Administration.
“I am preparing for my trip to India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia. Grateful for the opportunity to connect with our partners to promote a shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific comprised of independent, strong and prosperous nations,” he tweeted. last night.
Top US leaders will also meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hold talks with other government and business leaders on ways to promote the Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership between the United States and India, the State Department said.
On the agenda for the 2 + 2 Defense and Foreign Minister-level talks, the United States said topics to be covered include regional security cooperation, defense information exchange, military-to-military interactions and trade in defending.
“We have made significant progress toward the conclusion of the latest founding defense enablement agreement: the Exchange and Cooperation Agreement, or BECA,” senior Trump administration officials said last week at an online press conference.
“This agreement will allow for greater exchange of geospatial information between our armed forces. We are also looking to expand secure communication capabilities between our respective armies, as well as between our foreign defense ministries and that ranks high in what we are trying to achieve. in the information -Share space “, they added.
There is a broad understanding that during the 2 + 2 talks, New Delhi and Washington may close the BECA signature after years of negotiations. Signing the agreement would allow the United States to share precision topographic and satellite data from its constellation of military satellites in real time.
Last week, the United States also said that it is closely watching the India-China clash in Ladakh, sharing information with New Delhi, and that it wants to make sure the situation does not escalate.
The recent ring ministerial meeting in Tokyo called by Pompeo and his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia, the United States said, demonstrated the strong cooperative ties between Indo-Pacific democracies interested in strengthening a rules-based order in which all nations are sovereign. , strong and prosperous.
India, along with the United States, Japan and Australia, will conduct the high-level naval exercise Malabar next month. Australia is returning to the high-level naval exercise for the first time after 2007, when its participation drew criticism from China. The United States said Sunday that it welcomes Australia to join the Malabar naval exercise.
“The United States and India enjoy strong defense industrial cooperation. Through the United States-India Defense Trade and Technology Initiative, the United States and India are working together on the co-production and joint development of defense equipment,” he said. the State Department.
The first two 2 + 2 talks took place in New Delhi in September 2018 and Washington DC in 2019.
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