New Delhi, Delhi, India

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said that the 2+2 dialogue with the US will take place in September. Though the US cited "unavoidable reasons" for postponing the dialogue last month, sources in India said it happened because of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

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"The 2+2 dialogue with US will happen in the first week of September. The agenda will be to develop and strengthen strategic defence cooperation and to follow-on with what had transpired during the meeting with Secretary Defence Mattis," Sitharaman said on Friday.

India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were to travel to the US to take part in the meeting with US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis on July 6.

The 2+2 dialogue was announced last August following a call between Prime Minister Modi and President Donald Trump in June, 2017. The July 6 meeting was to focus on "strengthening strategic, security and defense cooperation".

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After June last year, the two countries have tried to schedule the dialogue many times with several dates having been considered.

Earlier this year also, the '2+2 dialogue' had been postponed due to uncertainty over the confirmation of Pompeo as President Donald Trump's new Secretary of State. Pompeo was later confirmed as Secretary of State in April.

The dialogue is seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship between the two countries.