New Delhi: US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo will be arriving in the national capital on Monday for the third edition of the two-plus-two ministerial dialogue which is taking place just a week ahead of the United States presidential election scheduled on November 3.
The State Secretary will be travelling along with Secretary of Defence Mark T Esper from October 25 to 29. Pompeo will also visit Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia to engage the countries in discussions on how free nations can work together to thwart threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.
Before boarding the flight to India on Sunday, Pompeo tweeted, “Wheels up for my trip to India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia. Grateful for the opportunity to connect with our partners to promote a shared vision for a free and open #IndoPacific composed of independent, strong, and prosperous nations.”
During his India visit for the third India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, Pompeo is schedule to meet Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on October 27 and will also have bilateral meetings with their counterparts.
They will also be a meeting with National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and they will jointly call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Earlier on Friday, the US State Department said in a statement that the talks between US and India will focus on four themes — regional security cooperation, defense information sharing, military-to-military interactions, and defense trade.
According to an earlier statement by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Dean Thompson, the US Secretary will also be urging the Sri Lankan officials to make decisions about its relationship with China and to review the option that the United States offers for transparent and sustainable economic development.
The first two 22 Ministerial dialogues had been held in New Delhi in September 2018 and Washington DC in 2019.