JAISHANKAR IN US, TO DISCUSS COVID COOPERATION WITH OFFICIALS
External affairs minister S Jaishankar will be the first Indian cabinet member to hold in-person meetings with senior members of the Biden administration in the United States during his five-day visit that will bring him to Washington DC on Wednesday, with the possibility of a meeting with the American president.
Talks are expected to cover Covid-19, a subject uppermost on everyone’s mind and related health care issues, but also an entire range of issues from international to regional such as Afghanistan, economic and strategic reflecting the ever-expanding breadth of the bilateral relationship and related discussions.
Jaishankar is scheduled to meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in New York City on Tuesday, which will also be the first in-person meeting for the two leaders since India began a two-year non-permanent term on the UN Security Council in January — its eighth such stint thus far.
The external affairs minister will be in New York City Monday and Tuesday and then head for Washington DC on Wednesday for another two days, with his itinerary packed with meetings with cabinet ministers, including his counterpart Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with whom he shares a close and easy relationship. Blinken had also visited India during Jaishankar’s tenure as foreign secretary.
Jaishankar is also expected to meet National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, another old acquaintance. But there was no word yet about his meetings with other cabinet members.