External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The two held talks on Friday morning ahead of the high-profile '2+2' ministerial dialogue and discussed about West Asia, the Indo-Pacific, and other regional issues. Jaishankar took to X to inform about the meeting. "Pleased to meet with Secreary of State this morning. An open and productive conversation on further developing our strategic partnership. Also spoke about West Asia, Indo-Pacific and other regional issues," the External Affairs Minister said.
Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin are in India for the fifth edition of the '2+2' foreign and defence ministerial dialogue which is focused at taking forward India-US futuristic roadmap for deeper strategic cooperation.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Jaishankar will lead the Indian delegation at the talks. The defence ministry stated that a number of strategic, defence and technology issues are expected to be discussed at the '2+2' dialogue and the bilateral meeting between Singh and Austin.
On Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the '2+2' dialogue 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," the MEA said in a statement, as quoted by news agency PTI.
The Fifth India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue emerges as a pivotal juncture for both the countries to strengthen ties, address common concerns, and chart the course for an even more robust collaboration in the future.