THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, Nov 10: India and the US engaged in extensive discussions on Friday to strengthen their global strategic partnership by fostering increased collaboration in defence industry relations, intensifying involvement in the Indo-Pacific region and enhancing cooperation in vital areas like critical minerals and high technology.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin headed the US delegation to the 2+2 ministerial talks. The Indian side was led by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
“Our dialogue today will be an opportunity to advance the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden to build a forward-looking partnership and construct a shared global agenda,” EAM Jaishankar stated in his opening remarks.
“We are exploring cooperation in new domains such as critical technologies, collaboration in civil outer space and in areas of critical minerals,” he said.
In his statement, Blinken mentioned that both parties are advocating for a free, open, prosperous, secure and resilient Indo-Pacific, including the reinforcement of the US-India partnership within the Quad framework.
He expressed that the primary objective is to strengthen the partnership in global peace and security, with a specific emphasis on promoting a rules-based order and upholding principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.
In his introductory remarks, Rajnath Singh stated that there has been an increase in interest in strategic convergence and improved defence cooperation in the bilateral relationship between the US and India.
“Defence cooperation remains one of the most important pillars of our bilateral relationship,” he said.
“We look forward to closely working with the US across domains of capability building,” Rajnath Singh stated.
In his introductory statements, US Defense Secretary Austin emphasized that given the pressing global challenges, it is increasingly crucial for the world’s two largest democracies to share perspectives, identify shared objectives, and “deliver for our people”.
“Our increasingly strong ties give us all hope for the future of this partnership and our common efforts towards a more secure world,” he said.
