2+2 Dialogue Between India and US Back On, Again

The meeting is expected to focus on strengthening strategic, security, and defence cooperation.

Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State expressed regret and deep disappointment over the postponement to Susham Swaraj.

(File Photo: Xinhua/Ting Shen/IANS)

After having been postponed two times already, the US-India 2+2 Dialogue has been fixed again for 6 September 2018. The Dialogue will take place with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Secretary of Defense James Mattis meeting their Indian counterparts External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in India.

The last time the dialogue was scheduled in July, the US conveyed to India on 27 June that it would have to postpone the meeting, scheduled to be held in Washington, due to "unavoidable reasons".

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were to travel to the US to take part in the meeting with their counterparts on 6 July.

US @SecPompeo spoke to EAM @SushmaSwaraj a short while ago to express his regret and deep disappointment at the US having to postpone the 2+2 Dialogue for unavoidable reasons.

Raveesh Kumar, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson

This new dialogue format was agreed upon between the two sides during the visit of Prime Minister Modi to Washington in June 2017.

After June last year, the two countries have tried to schedule the dialogue many times with several dates having been considered.

Earlier this year also, the '2+2 dialogue' had been postponed due to uncertainty over the confirmation of Pompeo as President Donald Trump's new Secretary of State. Pompeo was later confirmed as Secretary of State in April.

The dialogue is seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship between the two countries.

The meeting was expected to focus on strengthening strategic, security, and defence cooperation.

(With inputs from PTI)