Sitharaman to visit US; next 2+2 dialogue to be held in Nov: Report

ndia and the US will have a series of engagements and will hold dialogue on counter-terrorism and defence partnershops

India and the United States will hold the 2+2 dialogue in November and the meeting of the Defence Policy Group (DPG) will be convened soon, people familiar with the developments told news agency ANI.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and defence secretary Ajay Kumar will visit the United States. (PTI FIle)

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and defence secretary Ajay Kumar will visit the United States. India and the US will have a series of engagements and will hold dialogue on counter-terrorism and designation, people familiar with the developments further added.

The third India-US 2+2 ministerial dialogue was held in October 2020 in New Delhi.

The Defence Policy Group or the DPG is the meeting of the highest level held between top officials from the Union ministry of defence and the US department of defence. During the meeting, every aspect of bilateral defence cooperation between the two countries is reviewed.

During PM Modi’s visit to the US, President Joe Biden reaffirmed the strength of defence cooperation between India and the US. He said that the US is committed to India as a major defence partner through close defence engagements in the form of information sharing, sharing of logistics and military-to-military interactions.

US and India are also strengthening cooperation in advanced military technologies, and expanding engagements in a multilateral framework including with regional partners.

Earlier in the day, US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman, who is on a visit to India, met foreign secretary Harsh Shringla and said that India and the US share a strong relationship and believe in the rules-based international order. She further added that both nations are “believers in the free, open, interconnected and resilient Indo-Pacific region.”