United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will arrive in India on Tuesday for a three-day visit. He is scheduled to attend meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to discuss ways to strengthen strategic and trade ties between the two countries, The Hindu Business Line reported.
Pompeo is likely to discuss terrorism, Afghanistan, the Indo-Pacific region, Iran, trade relations, and growing bilateral defence ties with the government on Wednesday, Hindustan Times reported. He is scheduled to meet Jaishankar the following day, and then call on Modi before leaving for the city of Osaka in Japan for the G-20 Summit.
This is Pompeo’s first visit to India after Modi’s re-election. His visit comes days before Modi and US President Donald Trump are likely to meet on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.
Pompeo is also expected to raise the matter of tariffs imposed on 28 US products after the US withdrew India’s trade privileges. “I do hope, and remain open – and we remain open to dialogue, and hope that our friends in India will drop their trade barriers and trust in the competitiveness of their own companies, their own businesses, their own people, and private sector companies,” he said in Washington before leaving for India, The Indian Express reported.
The secretary of state is likely to raise data localisation and e-commerce with Jaishankar. “We will also push for free flow of data across borders, not just to help American companies, but to protect data and secure consumers’ privacy,” he said. On the trade war looming with China in the wake of Huawei being barred in the US, Pompeo said: “And speaking of privacy, we are eager to help India establish secure communications networks – including 5G networks as well.”
On terrorism, India and the US are likely to discuss the growing concern that Pakistan is not taking concrete actions against terror groups targeting India and destabilising Afghanistan, Hindustan Times reported.
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