India and the United States will review the entire spectrum of their bilateral strategic and defence ties here on Friday during the 2plus2 ministerial dialogue. It is the fifth interaction of 2+2 and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will hold talks with US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd J Austin III.
Giving details of the upcoming high-profile parleys, ministry of external affairs(MEA) said the 2+2 will enable a high-level review of progress being made in cross-cutting aspects of defence and security cooperation, technology value chain collaborations and people-to-people ties.
The Ministers will take the opportunity to progress the futuristic roadmap for the India-US partnership as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joseph Biden, in their discussions in June and September this year.
Both sides will also take stock of contemporary regional issues and exchange views about shared priorities for augmenting cooperation in multilateral platforms, and through frameworks such as Quad.
Rajnath and Jaishankar are also scheduled to have bilateral meetings with their respective U.S. counterparts, which will mark a continuity of Ministerial Dialogue and reaffirm the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic partnership, MEA said.
The dialogue comes in the backdrop of ongoing Israel and Hamas and Ukraine conflicts. Moreover, tension still prevails at the border in Ladakh between India and China and the dialogue may discuss these issues. Incidentally, the dialogue is also the first such meeting since diplomatic ties soured between Canada and India over allegations that the government was behind the killing of a Canadian Khalistani separatist leader in British Columbia.
The falling out between Ottawa and New Delhi had left Washington in an awkward position as it tries to balance its commitments and interests with both countries.
Also the 2+2 meeting comes a few months before India is expected to host the Quad Summit in New Delhi, with the leaders of the U.S., Japan and Australia.
The speculative date for this meeting is January 27 with US President Joe Biden being invited to attend the Republic Day on January 26.
The group of Ministers will discuss "both bilateral and global concerns and developments in the Indo-Pacific", the US State Department had said last week. Blinken's visit to New Delhi is part of a larger November 2-10 trip to Tel Aviv, Amman, Tokyo .