India and US to talk on emerging threats, challenges at 2+2 dialogue

India and US
will further cement their special strategic relationship with defence minister
Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister S. Jaishankar meeting their US
counterparts, Mark Esper and Mike Pompeo, for the two-plus-two dialogue in
Washington on December 18.

The focus
being on Indo-Pacific and the early conclusion of India’s hardware purchases
from the US.

The only
other country with which India holds a dialogue in the two-plus-two format is
Japan.

According to
Indian and US diplomats familiar with the matter, the forthcoming dialogue will
be important as it will combine positions and views of the foreign and defence
ministries of the two countries and try and achieve convergence in terms of a
common view on emerging global threats and challenges.

The dialogue
also gives and opportunity to the defence and foreign ministries to harmonise
their perspectives on issues such as terrorism, Pakistan, Afghanistan and West
Asia.

Apart from
this, the meeting could also discuss India’s acquisition of armed drones and
strategic inputs for India’s second aircraft carrier being built in Kochi.

While both
sides have decided to maintain radio silence on the negotiations, an early
harvest agreement is possible before the final deal is signed.

One of the
main objectives of the two-plus-two meeting, the diplomats and officials said,
is synchronizing India’s Act East policy with the larger Indo-Pacific
architecture adopted by India, the US, Japan, and Australia; both countries are
for free navigation and demilitarization of the South China Sea, officials added.

Cabinet
Ministers from both countries will also share their perspective on China and
the Far -East with Beijing using the Belt and Road Initiative as a economic
weapon in the Indian sub-continent and beyond.