US Defence Secretary travels to India for '2+2' meeting
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New Delhi: India has placed a high value on the visit of US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin as evidenced by the warm greeting Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh gave when he arrived in the nation's capital on Thursday.
Austin is travelling to New Delhi for a two-day stay to attend the "2+2" foreign and defence ministerial discussion between the United States and India on Friday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also be part of the American delegation at the talks.
The Indian side will be led by Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
Singh and Jaishankar are also scheduled to have separate bilateral meetings with their American counterparts on the sidelines of the ‘2+2’ dialogue that is expected to carry out a comprehensive review of fast-expanding India-US strategic ties.
A number of strategic, defence and technology issues are expected to be discussed during the 2+2 dialogue and the bilateral meeting.
Secretary Austin last visited India in June and had met with Singh.
With PTI inputs