US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Secretary of Defence Mark Esper will visit India for the third 2+2 ministerial meeting in New Delhi next week with their Indian counterparts S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh, on 27 October.
"The agenda for the third dialogue will cover all bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interests," India’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Pompeo told reporters that he was "sure" the meeting will have a "discussion about how free nations can work together to thwart the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party", IANS reported.
“Secretary Pompeo and I will be there next week,” Secretary Esper said at Atlantic Council, a think tank, Hindustan Times reported.
“India will well be the most consequential partner for us, I think, in the Indo-Pacific for sure, in the century, and look it’s the world’s largest democracy, a very capable country, very talented people, and they face off every day, the Chinese aggression in the Himalayas, specifically along that line of actual control,” he was quoted by the daily as saying.
This will be the third 2+2 meet between the two countries, with the first one being held in new Delhi in 2018 and the second being held in Washington in 2019.
The 2+2 meeting that is held every year alternating between the capitals of the two countries had been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to IANS, Pompeo said, “I am glad that we're going to execute that in person.”
The visit comes amid the ongoing US elections as President Donald Trump is seeking a second term in office.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times and IANS.)
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