New Delhi (NVI): Both India and US reiterated their commitment to advancing a free, open, inclusive, peaceful, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region besides deepening military-to-military cooperation.
This was decided at the second annual India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and their US counterparts Secretary of Defense Dr Mark T Esper and Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo in Washington yesterday.
At the Dialogue, both sides stressed on deepening military-to-military cooperation, including between the Indian Navy and the US Navy Fleets under US Indo-Pacific Command, Central Command, and Africa Command and intend to expand similar cooperation between their respective Armies and Air Forces.
A number of other initiatives to enhance military-to-military cooperation were also agreed upon, an official statement said here today.
Notably, this 2+2 Ministerial is the highest-level institutional mechanism between the two countries and provides for a review of the security, defence and strategic partnership between India and the United States. This was the second 2+2 meeting and the first in US.
India and the US also concluded the Industrial Security Annex during the visit.
Priority initiatives have been identified for execution under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) programme. The two sides also concluded a standard operating procedure for this process.
These measures are expected to provide momentum to collaboration between the private defence industries of both the countries.
Moreover, the two sides also agreed to move forward in their engagement in the area of defence innovation.
While Rajnath Singh and Secretary Esper held delegation-level bilateral talks at the Pentagon on further strengthening India-US defence partnership, External Affairs Minister on the other hand held bilateral talks with his counterpart Secretary Pompeo.
After the 2+2 meeting, both the Defence and External Affairs Minister called on US President Donald J Trump at the Oval Office. They were accompanied by US National Security Adviser Ambassador Robert O’Brian.
During his visit to the US, Rajnath Singh had addressed a large Indian community reception and also visited the Norfolk Naval Air Station where he was briefed on the naval and air assets stationed at the base.
