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India-US 2+2: Israel-Hamas conflict, Ukraine war, defence cooperation on agenda
The 2+2 meeting will enable a high-level review of progress in “cross-cutting aspects of defence and security cooperation and technology value chain collaborations”
New Delhi: The India-US 2+2 dialogue of defence and foreign ministers on November 10 will be an opportunity to take forward the futuristic roadmap for the bilateral partnership, the external affairs ministry said on Wednesday.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister S Jaishankar will meet their US counterparts Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken for the fifth 2+2 ministerial dialogue in New Delhi on Friday.
A range of global issues, including the Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict, are expected to be on the agenda of the meeting. The two sides are also expected to focus on new areas to ramp up India-US defence and security cooperation.
General Electrics has signed an agreement with state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to manufacture GE-414 jet engines in India. The Indian side is also acquiring 31 MQ-9B Reaper drones from the US and the two sides have made rapid progress under the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) in recent months.
“The ministers will take the opportunity to progress the futuristic roadmap for the India-US partnership as envisioned by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and President Joseph Biden, in their discussions in June and September this year,” the external affairs ministry said in a statement.
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The 2+2 meeting will also enable a high-level review of progress in “cross-cutting aspects of defence and security cooperation, technology value chain collaborations and people-to-people ties”, it said.
Both sides will also take stock of contemporary regional issues and exchange views about “shared priorities for augmenting cooperation in multilateral platforms, and through frameworks such as Quad”.
Singh and Jaishankar are scheduled to have separate bilateral meetings with their US counterparts, marking the “continuity of ministerial dialogue” and reaffirming the India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership.
