Defence, Foreign Ministers to attend India-US 2+2 dialogue on December 18

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will lead the Indian delegation at the second India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in Washington DC next week.

“They will meet their US counterparts for a comprehensive review of cross-cutting foreign policy and defence and security issues in our relations. In addition, both sides will exchange views on salient regional and global issues,” according to a MEA statement on Thursday. The meeting is on December 18.

On whether the India-Japan summit, to be attended by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian PM Narendra Modi, will take place in Guwahati as scheduled on December 15-16, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said there was no update on the matter to share yet.

Assam is in the midst of violent protests against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).

“A final decision on the venue of the India-Japan Summit is likely to be taken by Friday,” an official said.

The India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue was initiated in September 2018 in order to provide a positive, forward-looking vision for the strategic partnership and to promote synergy in our diplomatic and security efforts, an official release said.

The 2+2 Dialogue will take stock of these growing relations and provide strategic guidance for their further development.