India-US ‘2+2’ talks on Sept 6

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 20

The inaugural 2+2 format dialogue between India and the United States has now been rescheduled for September 6 following postponements on two earlier occasions. US Defence Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo will travel to New Delhi to hold discussions with their Indian counterparts Nirmala Sitharaman and Sushma Swaraj.

“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,” said MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.

Interestingly, though the US chose to highlight “challenges in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond” as issues to be jointly addressed in its formal statement on talks that were first proposed during PM Modi’s DC visit to meet President Trump in June 2017.

The new dates have been announced close on the heels of Defence Minister Sitharaman informing that India will go ahead with S-400 long-range air-defence systems acquisition from Russia regardless of the sanctions heat it faces from the Trump administration under the stringent CAATSA law.

“The S-400 deal has been on for a very long time and we have reached the final stage of negotiations,” Sitharaman said in June. The US demand of reducing oil imports from Iran to zero following Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal also looms large in bilateral ties among other major issues. This will be a high-level dialogue between Delhi and DC weeks after a new government is expected to take shape in Pakistan following general election on July 25.

The talks that were earlier scheduled in April were postponed after Trump replaced Rex Tillerson with former CIA chief as his Secretary of State and senate confirmation was awaited for Pompeo.

Subsequently, the talks rescheduled for July 6 in DC were derailed again as Pompeo headed to Pyongyang instead to take forward the North Korean denuclearisation talks following the summit meeting between Trump and Chairman Kim. Both Delhi and DC had clarified that the postponement was only because of scheduling issues and must not be read as a drift in ties.

What’s on agenda

• A broad range of bilateral, regional and global issues of shared interest
• The focus will be on strengthening strategic and security relations
• US Defence Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo will hold dialogue with Nirmala Sitharaman and Sushma Swaraj in Delhi
• The two sides are also expected to talk about US President Donald Trump’s South Asia strategy focusing on Afghanistan and New Delhi’s role