Jaishankar meets US Defence Secy, discusses global strategic situation

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday met United States Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and had a wide-ranging conversation on the global strategic situation.

Jaishankar said in a tweet that he looked forward to working with Austin to enhance the strategic partnership.

"Welcomed US @SecDef Lloyd Austin at MEA. A wide-ranging conversation on the global strategic situation. Look forward to working with him on enhancing our strategic partnership," he said.

Earlier in the day, Austin, who is on a three-day official visit to India, met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and had delegation-level talks at Vigyan Bhawan.

The discussions focused on wide-ranging defence cooperation and expanding military-to-military engagement across services, information sharing, cooperation in emerging sectors of defence, and mutual logistics support.

Defence Minister Singh said that Austin's three-day visit to India during the coronavirus pandemic "shows the abiding commitment" of the United States to the bilateral ties.

Austin arrived here on Friday and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

( With inputs from ANI )