Following the postponement of the 2+2 talks with the United States of America owing to the ‘unavailability’ of Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, the western superpower reportedly offered to host Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for a bilateral meet with her American counterpart James Mattis.
However, according to a report in The Indian Express, the Indian government turned down the offer, wanting to go ahead with the earlier proposed format of a 2+2 talk. The talks were scheduled to take place between EAM Sushma Swaraj, Sitharaman and their respective American counterparts.
According to the daily, the US had offered to host Sitharaman in the first week of July, as per the original plan. Under the original schedule, Sitharaman was expected to have visited the Pentagon, followed by a bilateral meet with US Defence Secretary Mattis and his delegation.
The dialogue was initially decided in August 2017, after a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After the scheduled talks were cancelled, Pompeo reportedly called Swaraj to express his “disappointment and deep regret.”
This is not the first time that the talks have been re-scheduled. Earlier in April, the talks had been pushed up after Trump fired his then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
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