NEW DELHI: The second 2+2 dialogue between India and the United States of America will be held on December 18 in Washington, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday.
The Indian side will be represented by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the talks will make a review of the cross-cutting foreign policy and defence and security issues in bilateral ties, Kumar said.
The American side will comprise US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Spencer.The two sides will take stock of the growing bilateral relations and provide strategic guidance for their further development.
According to Kumar, both sides will also exchange views on salient regional and global issues. “The India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue was initiated in September 2018 in order to provide a positive, forward-looking vision for the India-US strategic partnership and to promote synergy in our diplomatic and security efforts,” the MEA spokesperson said and added that since the inaugural edition of this Dialogue in September 2018, ties have deepened.
Meanwhile, acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice G Wells said that human rights will not be a part of the discussions during the 2+2 dialogue but it would touch upon Kashmir-related issues.
“(The issue of) Human rights is not part of this 2+2 discussion that’s taking place next week, although I’m confident that issues on Kashmir and the threat perceptions that India sees will obviously be a part of the agenda,” she said.