Blinken: US State Secretary arrives in New Delhi, will participate in 5th India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue

NEW DELHI: United States state department secretary Antony Blinken arrived in New Delhi on Friday to participate in the 5th India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue.
Yesterday, US state departmentprincipal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel, while speaking on Blinken’s visit to India, said: “India is a country that we have a deep partnership with. He (Blinken) will be going for the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue along with Secretary of Defence Lloyd J.Austin. So I expect, of course, that deepening this security cooperation in partnership, will be, one of the many topics that are discussed.”
Prior to his visit, the state department said that along with Blinken, defence secretary Lloyd J Austin III, will also arrive in New Delhi for the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue.
The dialogue will provide a platform for top-level discussions between the US and India, addressing critical bilateral and global matters, with special emphasis on developments unfolding in the Indo-Pacific region.
Both ministers will meet with their Indian counterparts, external affairs minister S Jaishankar and defence minister Rajnath Singh, as well as other senior officials.
“The Secretary will then travel to New Delhi to participate in the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, joined by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III. The delegation will meet with Minister for External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh, and other senior Indian officials to discuss both bilateral and global concerns and developments in the Indo-Pacific,” read an official statement by the US State Department.
The spokesperson for the US State Department, Matthew Miller said, “Secretary of State Antony J Blinken will travel to Tel Aviv, Israel; Amman, Jordan; Ankara, Turkiye; Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, the Republic of Korea (ROK); and New Delhi, India November 2-10, 2023.”