Secretary Pompeo and Esper to attend third round of U.S-India strategic dialogue in New Delhi today

United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo will be travelling to New Delhi for the U.S-India 2+2 Quadrilateral Ministerial Dialogue today, in a briefing from the State Department.

Secretary Pompeo will be accompanied by Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper, and are expected to meet Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi; in addition to holding discussions with various government and business leaders on ways to enhance the U.S-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.

In a statement, Secretary Pompeo added that “Let us seize this moment to deepen cooperation between two of the world’s greatest democracies". This marks the third-round of ministerial talks between the United States and India in the past two years, a reflection of their deepening economic and strategic cooperation; as Pompeo will be travelling to Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia to "promote a shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific, composed of independent, strong and prosperous nations".

In this round of discussions, both countries will be touching upon their shared democratic traditions, new strategic dimensions and opportunities for enhanced economic cooperation in the region. In the aftermath of a global pandemic, both India and the United States have unambiguously mishandled the crisis, while also repeatedly shovelling the blame onto the Chinese government. As attention turns towards what a post-pandemic global balance of power would look like, the Trump Administration has been making strides in both the Indo-Pacific region and the Middle East - in an attempt to bolster its allies against China.