New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun on Monday held talks on bilateral, regional and key global issues with a focus on the common vision of the two countries for the Indo-Pacific region. Biegun arrived here on a three-day visit primarily to finalise the groundwork for the third edition of two-plus-two dialogue between the two countries later this month.
"Pleased to meet US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun. Useful exchange of views on world politics and regional issues. Appreciated the steady progress of our bilateral cooperation. Confident that our Strategic Partnership would continue to deepen," Jaishankar tweeted. The US embassy, in a tweet said, Biegun and Jaishankar exchanged?views on key regional and?global?issues?impacting?the "Indo-Pacific priorities".
It is learnt that Jaishankar also apprised the US official about the situation in eastern Ladakh where Indian and Chinese troops are engaged in a bitter border row for over five months. The meeting comes six days after Jaishankar held bilateral talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Tokyo on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers of the member nations of 'Quad' or Quadrilateral coalition comprising India, the US, Australia and Japan.
The third edition of the two-plus-two dialogue between India and the US is expected to take place on October 26 and 27 here during which both sides are likely to carry out a comprehensive review of their strategic cooperation. US Secretary of State Pompeo and Defence Secretary Defence Secretary Mark Esper are scheduled to visit India for the dialogue.
The Indian side at the talks will be represented by Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The first two-plus-two dialogue was held in Delhi in September 2018 after the mechanism was approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump.
The second edition of the dialogue took place in Washington in December last year. The new framework of the ministerial dialogue was initiated in order to provide a forward-looking vision for the strategic partnership between the two countries.
In the third edition of talks, both sides are also expected to delve into the situation in the Indo-Pacific region as well as in India's neighbourhood besides key bilateral issues.
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