US, India to hold 2+2 ministerial dialogue in Washington on Monday

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US and India will hold a fourth 2+2 ministerial meeting next week, the State Department said Thursday.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will welcome Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington, DC.

"This year’s event will celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations and reaffirm the importance of the U.S.-India Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership in ensuring international peace and security," the agency said in a statement. "It will reaffirm our shared commitment to a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region."

The statement said the meeting is "an important opportunity" to advance strategic partnership between the two nations, and enhance ties and cooperation as well as to highlight defense partnership.

"The relationship between the world’s largest democracies is built on a foundation of common values and resilient democratic institutions, and the shared Indo-Pacific interests of a rules-based international order that safeguards sovereignty and territorial integrity, upholds human rights, and expands regional and global peace and prosperity," it added.