India-US 2+2 dialogue ‘major opportunity’ to boost military ties, strategic partnership: US

In a move to enhance US engagement with India on critical diplomatic and security priorities, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James Mattis will hold talks with their Indian counterparts Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman in September, news agency ANI reported.

According to reports, the talks, that will be held in New Delhi on September 6, have been described by Washington as a 'major opportunity' to boost India-US strategic partnership.

"India's central role in our National Security Strategy is enshrined in the President's National Security Strategy as well as the administration's South Asia and Indo-Pacific strategies," a US official told reporters during a conference call.

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"We expect progress and further deepening of ties between our two militaries and creating a framework for greater information sharing and interoperability. We are also eager to expand defence trade, which is estimated to reach 18 billion by 2019 from essentially zero in 2008," he added

On agenda

The meeting is expected to address a number of issues wherein measures will be discussed to build on the recent momentum in India-US defence relations and chalk out the future plan.

Other areas of dialogue may include discussions on facilitating US-India intelligence sharing, counterterrorism cooperation and addressing the difference in opinion both the countries have over Iran sanctions.

"We have been discussing regularly with India issues related to both Iran and CAATSA and are looking, as with other partners, to identify ways to cooperate to support our policy goals with regard to both those issues."

US President Donald Trump previously had emphasised the willingness to foster maritime domain awareness and defence innovation with India.

Boosting economic ties with India would also find a key spot in the discussions.

"We are looking at potentially collaborating with some of our defence innovation efforts in the United States, our Defense Innovation Unit for example, and discuss proposals to enhance bilateral defence cooperation. So those would be just an example of some of the proposals that we are going to discuss at the meeting," the senior administration official added.

"The United States and India expanded bilateral trade by 12 billion last year, reaching 126 billion in 2017. We want to continue to grow the trade relationship to our mutual benefit, but to ensure the trade is fair and reciprocal. It is no surprise that tariff and non-tariff barriers have been the subject of longstanding concern, and the US Government is working with the Government of India to address market access challenges," added the official.

(With inputs from ANI)