The News Freedom
New Delhi, November 10
External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar, on Friday said that India and the US exchanged perspectives on the Indo-Pacific, South Asia, West Asia, and Ukraine conflict. “ Followed up on PM @narendramodi’s state visit to the US this June. Our agenda covered advancing our strategic partnership, including elevating our defense ties, moving forward in space and technology, future logistics cooperation and people-to-people contacts,” Jaishankar said after the India-US 2+2 Ministerial Meeting concluded.
Sharing details on the social media platform X, the External Affairs Minister tweeted, “Reaffirmed our commitment to our collaboration in the multilateral arena and engaging the Global South. Thank @SecBlinken and @SecDef
for their friendship and contributions,”.
Previously, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today said that the India-US bilateral relationship has seen a growing convergence of strategic interests and enhanced defence, security, and intelligence cooperation. In his opening remarks at the India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, he said that Defence remains one of the most important pillars of our bilateral relationship.
“Your visit to India is at a time when India and the US are closer than ever before. In spite of various emerging geopolitical challenges, we need to keep our focus on important and long-term issues. Our partnership is critical for ensuring a free, open, and rules-bound Indo-Pacific region.” Rajnath further said.
He said, ”We look forward to closely working with the US across the domains of defense for capability building and for an abiding partnership which can address emerging challenges. “I look forward to engaging in enriching discussions today,” he added.
While addressing the gathering, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin said, “ We are meeting at a time of great momentum in the United States and India partnership. In the face of urgent global challenges, it’s more important than ever that the world’s two largest democracies exchange views, find common goals, and deliver for our people.
“We have made impressive gains in building our major defense partnership over the past year, and that will help keep us – help us contribute even more together to the cause of peace and stability,” Austin said. “We are integrating our industrial bases, strengthening our interoperability, and sharing cutting-edge technology,” he added.
He further said, “The scope of our cooperation is vast. As our ambassador is fond of saying, it stretches from seabed to space. And of course, the strength of our partnership is rooted in the people-to-people ties that are at the heart of our longstanding friendship.
“ Together our diplomats, entrepreneurs, and students are expanding our partnership in new domains, including clean energy, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors. Our increasingly strong ties give us all hope for the future of this partnership and for our common efforts toward a more secure world,” Austin said.