Pompeo, Esper attend wreath laying ceremony at National War Memorial

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark T Esper on Tuesday attended the wreath laying ceremony at the National War Memorial in the national capital.

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark T Esper on Tuesday attended the wreath laying ceremony at the National War Memorial in the national capital. The 2+2 ministerial dialogue is set to begin at the Hyderabad House at around 10 am. They are also scheduled to make a joint call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at around 1 pm at the PM's residence.

Pompeo and Esper arrived in New Delhi on Monday for 2+2 inter-ministerial talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to be held on Tuesday. The visit also comes at a time when India and China are locked in a serious military stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh.

The US officials will then proceed to Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia. On Monday, the two US secretaries held separate talks with Indian counterparts ---- Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh.

Singh and Esper held talks yesterday during which the defence ministers of the two countries reviewed bilateral defence cooperation spanning "military-to-military cooperation, securing communication systems and information sharing, defence trade and industrial issues" and also discussed ways to take bilateral cooperation forward. The Indian Defence Ministry announced following the meeting between Esper and Singh that "the two Ministers expressed satisfaction that agreement of BECA will be signed during the visit."

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, also had a meeting wherein they agreed that US-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership is "critical to the security and prosperity" of both the countries, the Indo-Pacific region and the world. Pompeo and Jaishankar discussed a wide range of issues during the meeting ranging from addressing the shared challenges of COVID-19 and responding to regional security issues, to collaborating on vaccine development and economic prosperity, according to the US State Department. (ANI)

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