India, US 2+2 meet set for Oct 27
NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON: The third 2+2 ministerial dialogue next week will see India and the US consolidating their diplomatic and security ties, including institutionalised intelligencesharing and efforts to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister S Jaishankar will host US defence secretary Mark Esper and secretary of state Mike Pompeo in New Delhi on October 27 for a rare personal meeting amid the pandemic, during which the signing of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement is on the cards to facilitate sharing of satellite and sensor data.
As the ties with India has bipartisan backing in the US, the meeting is expected to build on past gains even though it is being held days ahead of the US presidential election on November 3.
Announcing the meeting on Wednesday, the external affairs ministry said Pompeo and Esper will be in India during October 26-27 for the dialogue, whose agenda includes “all bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest”.
The first 2+2 dialogue was held in New Delhi in 2018 and the second in Washington in 2019.
Pompeo told the media in Washington that during the upcoming visit, which will also take him to Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia, he would focus on working with the four countries “to preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific”.
“I’m especially looking forward to doing that with secretary Esper in our 2+2 ministerial dialogue with our Indian friends,” he said. “I’m sure that my meetings will also include discussions on how free nations can work together to thwart threats posed by the Chinese
Communist Party.”
Speaking at the Atlantic Council on Tuesday, Esper didn’t rule out the possibility of the two sides signing an anticipated maritime information-sharing agreement. He added that India will be “the most consequential partner for us...in the Indo-Pacific...in the century”. He also spoke of India facing “Chinese aggression in the Himalayas, specifically along that Line of Actual Control”.
BECA is considered the fourth and last of the foundational agreements to be signed by India and the US. The two sides have been sharing real time intelligence under the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), which was signed in 2018.
The two countries signed the General Security of Military Information Agreement in 2002 and the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement in 2016.
People familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity there is a strong possibility the two sides could finalise a pact for an institutionalised relationship between the Defence Intelligence Agencies of the two sides. This will allow the two sides to share tri-services intelligence, including developments ranging from the South China Sea to the Himalayas.
BECA, which is yet to be cleared by the Indian cabinet, will enable India to buy armed unmanned aerial and underwater platforms from the US, which will be loaded with neighbourhood terrain maps for pin-point targeting.
The two sides are also expected to discuss China’s aggression in Ladakh and its muscle flexing in the South China Sea, as well as countermeasures that the Quad needs to put in place to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific for global trade, the people said.