US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to visit India later this month

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be visiting India from June25-27.

US envoy to India Kenneth Jester speaking at the American Independence Day celebrations in Delhi announced that Pompeo will visit India later this month.

Pompeo last visited India in September of 2018 for the ''2+2 dialogue'' between the then Indian defence and foreign ministers with their American counterparts.

The visit will come just days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meet with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan from June 28-29.

After Trump's congratulatory call to Modi after re-election, the Ministry of External Affairs said, "The two leaders agreed to meet at the forthcoming G-20 Summit in Japan, to discuss bilateral relations and global matters."

Trump, Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met for the first meet of JAI--Japan, America and India grouping--on the sidelines of G20 summit in Argentina in December 2018.

Lauding India-US ties, American envoy said, "US-India partnership is durable and effective because it is based on the foundation of common values are societies cherish, like individual liberties, free enterprise, human rights, open societies and rule of law"

India-US ties have grown in last few years, but thorny issues, especially on trade, remains. On Wednesday, Washington's Generalized System of Preference (GSP) which is a trade preference programme for developing countries came to an end for New Delhi. India was the largest beneficiary of GSP in 2017 and was able to export $5.7 billion Indian goods to US duty-free.