Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington this month-end for the Nuclear Security Summit, India and the United States have agreed to deepen their collaboration in dealing with the threat posed by terror outfits lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
This issue, along with cooperation on trade, defence and climate change, came up at a meeting that Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar had with US National Security Advisor Susan Rice at the White House on Tuesday. They also deliberated on the preparations for the two-day Nuclear Security Summit to be held here, from March 31.
“Building on their leaders’ commitment to make the US-India partnership a defining relationship for the 21st Century, they agreed to deepen their already close collaboration on these issues,” National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement issued after the meeting.
Apart from conferring with Rice, Jaishankar held meetings with a number of senior US officials during his four-day visit to Washington that was aimed at reviewing the bilateral relations and preparing for India’s participation at the summit. Jaishankar had meetings with US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, US Trade Representative Mike Froman, Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Under Secretary of State Thomas Shannon and Under Secretary of State Rose Gotteemoeller.
“The meetings focussed on further consolidating bilateral relations in the year ahead and enhancing convergence on regional and global issues. In this context, both sides agreed to work for achieving concrete results in key areas of bilateral cooperation including defence, trade and investment and civil nuclear energy,” the Indian Embassy said in a statement.