India, US to hold inaugural two+two meet on July 6
INDIAN OFFICIALS EXPECT TO DISCUSS THE INDIRECT IMPACT OF US SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA AND IRAN.
WASHINGTON: India and the United States will hold the inaugural 2+2 meeting of their defence and foreign ministers here on July 6, the state department announced on Thursday, ending months of uncertainty caused by postponements and cancellations over scheduling and personnel changes.
Indian officials expect to discuss the indirect impact of US sanctions on Russia and Iran. India‘s purchase of the Russian S-400 air defence system is at risk of attracting secondary US sanctions unless an exception is made, as proposed and backed by defence secretary James Mattis and secretary of state Mike Pompeo.
This will be the first simultaneous meeting of India’s defence and external affairs ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Sushma Swaraj and their American counterparts Mattis and Pompeo in a format announced last August after a call between Prime Minister Narendra modi and President Donald Trump.
At the meeting, officials will “focus on strengthening strategic, security, and defence cooperation as the United States and India jointly confront global challenges”, the state department said in a statement.
The meeting will be held against the backdrop of growing defence and diplomatic ties and convergence but increasing trade differences caused by Trump’s decision to slap tariffs of 25% and 10% on steel and aluminium imports, which India has retaliated against and also challenged at the WTO.
Trade is a separate discussion and new and continuing issues are being thrashed out by the two side at other forums.
This meeting was earlier scheduled to be held in April and preparations were underway when Trump unexpectedly fired then secretary of state Rex Tillerson.
As his replacement, Pompeo, could not have been confirmed in time for the 2+2 meeting, it was pushed to a later date.
In subsequent weeks, the US was focussed on Trump’s meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
The two sides are expected to discuss a range of issues in defence and foreign affairs, such as counter-terror cooperation, which is always accorded high priority by the two countries, and Afghanistan, which received a significant pitch in Trump’s new South Asia strategy.
As a sign of growing defence ties, t he US renamed its Pacific Command, one of its six geographical military commands, as the Indo-pacific Command. NEW DELHI : Basking in the success of its Kisan long march in Maharashtra in March this year, the CPI(M)’S trade union and farmers’ bodies announced an ambitious, mega rally in Delhi, the first such joint programme by these fronts.
The move to organise an independent rally at Jantar Mantar is seen as an attempt to build further on the success of the party’s most successful agitation in the recent past and the communists are in no mood to share the platform with other like-minded parties.
On various occasions, Congress’ INTUC, CPI’S AITUC and other organisations have come together with CPI(M)’S trade union CITU to stage protests against the NDA and the previous UPA government.
“This is an important rally for us as we want to unite people affected by the Narendra Modi government’s policies. This is our political task,” said CITU general secretary Tapan Sen.