NEW DELHI | New Delhi will host the third Indo-US ‘two-plus-two’ ministerial level discussion on 27 October amid deteriorating relations with China. US-India ‘two-plus-two’ talks are scheduled to be held a few weeks before the US presidential elections. Apart from this, the talks are taking place at a time when there is tension between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. In the wake of this cold war-like tension, talks between the US and India are considered important.
The State Department said that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Minister Mark T. Espar will visit India on 26 and 27 October for talks. Foreign Minister S.K. Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will do.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh from the Indian side and Foreign Minister S.K. Jaishankar will lead the delegation of his ministries.
The first ‘two-plus-two’ talks were held in Delhi in September 2018, before which this mechanism was approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump. The second edition of the talks took place in December last year in Washington. The new framework of ministerial dialogue was designed to provide forward-looking vision for the strategic partnership between the two countries.
