All set for India-US 2+2 ministerial dialogue in Washington

India-US 2+2 ministerial dialogue is scheduled to take place in Washington on Wednesday (local time), where the two countries are likely to exchange views on salient regional and global issues.

US State Department will be hosting the second annual US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue on Wednesday (local time), led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defence, Mark Esper with their Indian counterparts, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar and Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh.

"This upcoming meeting underscores the high priority the Trump Administration places on a strong U.S.-India relationship," the senior state department official said.

The official recalled that Pompeo emphasised on his visit to India last summer, the U.S.-India relationship has evolved dramatically from a relationship of great potential to one of great achievement.

"Over the past 15 months, we have witnessed continuing growth in our bilateral and multilateral cooperation with India on preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region. We agree with India on the importance of supporting ASEAN centrality, a rules-based order, freedom of navigation and overflight, good governance, high-quality and transparent infrastructure and investment, and private-sector-led growth," the official said.

"We have continued to coordinate our approaches to Indo-Pacific priorities through bilateral and plurilateral meetings, to include the "Quad" comprised of the United States, India, Japan, and Australia. Secretary Pompeo hosted the first-ever Quad Ministerial at the UN General Assembly in September, which showcased our commitment to working with likeminded Indo-Pacific partners," the official added.

Highlighting that the U.S. and Indian navies, alongside the navies of Japan and the Philippines, conducted the first-ever joint sail in the South China Sea in May, "reinforcing the principle that the Indo-Pacific should be open to all", the official said, "And just last month, the United States and India held Tiger Triumph, the first-of-its-kind, tri-service military exercise, which strengthened cooperation among our forces in the areas of humtarian assistance and disaster relief."

"We have also continued to expand our defence trade, which yields significant benefits to India's defence capabilities and our bilateral defence relationship," he added.

The official said 2+2 will address ways to further accelerate and deepen the cooperation and the two sides will discuss and coordinate on the pressing regional and global challenges of the day.

"We hope to make progress on another enabling agreement that will support our goal of greater defence industrial cooperation and interoperability and will discuss key defence deals we hope to finalize in the coming months. We will look to advance our cooperation on space and broaden our people-to-people ties through initiatives that will foster greater collaboration in a range of areas," the senior official said.

Asserting that it is those strong people-to-people ties that are a key foundation supporting all of this progress, the official recalled the 'Howdy Modi' and said those ties were on display during the event.

"Those ties were on display when President Trump joined Prime Minister Modi at the 'Howdy Modi' rally in Houston in September. From the four-million strong Indian-American diaspora to 200,000 Indian students on U.S. campuses, our peoples, businesses, and institutions are closely linked, with ties that are only growing stronger," he said.

The Department of State had on Thursday said the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue will serve as an important platform for discussing critical diplomatic and security issues and expand cooperation in science and counter-terrorism measures between the two countries.

The inaugural India-U.S. 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue was held in New Delhi in September 2018.

( With inputs from ANI )