New Delhi: The government on Friday officially announced that the “inaugural 2+2 dialogue” with the United States at the foreign and defence ministerial level would be held in New Delhi on September 6. The dialogue was earlier scheduled for July 6 in Washington, but was postponed by the US as secretary of state Michael R. Pompeo had to travel to North Korea.
In a statement, the MEA said, “Minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman will host the US secretary of state Michael R. Pompeo and US secretary of defence James Mattis in New Delhi on September 6, 2018 for the inaugural 2+2 dialogue.”
This new dialogue format was finalised during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington on 26 June last year.
“This new dialogue format is in pursuit of agreement reached between India and the US during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington DC on June 25-26, 2017. The 2+2 meeting will cover a broad range of bilateral, regional and global issues of shared interest, with a view to strengthening strategic and security ties between the two countries.”
It may be recalled that a few weeks ago, Mr Pompeo had told Ms Swaraj that the US had decided to postpone the 2+2 dialogue with India since he had to travel to the North Korean Capital Pyongyang from July 5 to 7.
Last month, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the Indo-US relationship will mark a new milestone when the two countries conduct the first ever ‘2+2’ dialogue.
The two countries tried to schedule the dialogue many times with several dates having been considered.
The dialogue was seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship between the two countries.
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