United States on Friday announced that it would host the ‘2+2 dialogue’ with India on September 6. Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis will discuss strengthening strategic, security, and defense cooperation with India’s Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman.
The representatives will “jointly address challenges in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond”, a statement by US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said.
In June, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said Pompeo spoke to Swaraj to express disappointment that the “2+2 dialogue” had to be postponed due to “unavoidable reasons”. Swaraj and Sitharaman were scheduled to travel to the United States to take part in the first such dialogue on July 6, with Mattis and Pompeo.
On June 29, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Prime Minister Narendra Modi “knows exactly why” Washington postponed the dialogue. Haley said the decision had nothing to do with India and that the United States considers bilateral ties to be at its strongest.
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