India, US hold maritime security meet in California

New Delhi: Just days before the bilateral meeting in France between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump that took place on Monday, the two countries held a maritime security dialogue last Friday in California during which they "exchanged views on ways to further strengthen bilateral maritime security cooperation".

The two countries have intensified maritime cooperation in the wake of increased Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea and larger Indo-Pacific region.

Meanwhile, in a statement, the MEA said, "The fourth round of the India-US maritime security dialogue was held, on August 23, 2019, in Monterey, California. The Indian delegation was led by Mr Indra Mani Pandey, additional secretary (D&ISA), ministry of external affairs and Ms Richa Misra, joint secretary (Navy), ministry of defence. ambassador Alice Wells, acting assistant secretary of state for south and central asian affairs, department of state, and Mr Randall Schriver, assistant secretary of defence for Indo-Pacific security affairs, department of defence., led the US delegation."

The MEA added, "During the dialogue, the two sides discussed regional maritime security issues and exchanged views on ways to further strengthen bilateral maritime security cooperation. They also reviewed implementation of the decisions taken during the earlier three rounds of maritime security dialogue. It was agreed to hold the next round of the Dialogue in India on mutually convenient date."