U.S. Postpones ‘2+2 Dialogue’ With India Due To ‘Unavoidable Reasons’
U.S. cancels dialogue with India it had decided during Modi’s U.S. visit.
The U.S. today conveyed to India that it has postponed the ‘2+2 dialogue', scheduled to be held next week in Washington, due to “unavoidable reasons”.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were to travel to the U.S. to take part in the meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis on July 6.
Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted:
This new dialogue format was agreed upon between the two sides during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington in June 2017.
After June last year, the two countries had tried to schedule the dialogue many times with several dates considered.
Earlier this year, the '2+2 dialogue' had been postponed due to uncertainty over the confirmation of Pompeo as President Donald Trump's new Secretary of State. Pompeo was later confirmed for the position in April.
The dialogue is seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship between the two countries. The meeting was expected to focus on strengthening strategic, security, and defence cooperation