India and the US will discuss the entire range of bilateral strategic ties during the two-day visit of Secretary of State, Antony J Blinken starting
July 27. He will meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor(NSA) Ajit Doval.
Giving details of Blinken’s visit, the External Affairs Ministry said here on Friday this is his first visit to India after assuming charge as U.S. Secretary of State.
Blinken's visit is an opportunity to continue the high-level bilateral dialogue and bolster the India-US global strategic partnership, the Ministry said.
Both sides will review the robust and multifaceted India-US bilateral relations, and potential for consolidating them further.
Discussions will focus on regional and global issues of mutual interest – including recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indo-Pacific region, Afghanistan and cooperation in the UN, the ministry statement said.
Blinken and Jaishankar are also likely to do the ground work for the Quad summit and bilateral meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joseph Biden due to be held in Washington later this year, sources said. Incidentally, Jaishankar and Blinken are in touch on the phone for sometime now, they added.
The US President has said the America’s Indo-Pacific strategy that includes India is an area of importance, particularly given increasing tensions between the U.S. and China.
Underlining the growing ties between the two countries in various fields including defence, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin was the first senior official of the Biden administration to visit Delhi in March followed by Biden’s special envoy on climate change John Kerry.
India also reciprocated and Jaishankar visited Washington in May, and held talks with Blinken in London on the sidelines of the G-7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting also in May and in Rome at the G-20 Foreign Ministers' meeting in June.
The Quad summit including leaders of the U.S., Japan, Australia and India, which was held virtually earlier this year, is expected to be held in Washington with the leaders ‘in-person’ in September.