Blinken meets India's Jaishankar ahead of high-level talks in New Delhi

The Secretary of State will be joined by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on Friday and discussed west Asian, Indo-Pacific and regional issues.

“Pleased to meet with Secretary of State Blinken this morning,” Mr Jaishankar, India's External Affairs Minister, said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, after the meeting.

“An open and productive conversation on further developing our strategic partnership. Also spoke about west Asia, Indo-Pacific and other regional issues.”

Mr Blinken, who arrived in the Indian capital on Thursday evening, will hold meetings with Mr Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as part of the fifth 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue.

He will be joined by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who also arrived in New Delhi.

Both US officials will hold separate meetings with their Indian counterparts on the sidelines of the dialogue.

“A warm welcome to US Secretary of State Secretary Blinken as he arrives in New Delhi to co-chair the 5th India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue,” Arindam Bagchi, External Affairs Ministry spokesman, said on X.

“The visit will give further boost to India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.”

The leaders are expected to discuss issues such as security and the Israel-Gaza conflict during the talks, India’s External Affairs Ministry said earlier.

They will review the progress made in defence and security co-operation, technology value-chain collaborations and people relations.

“The ministers will take the opportunity to progress the futuristic road map for the India-US partnership as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden, in their discussions in June and September this year,” the External Affairs Ministry said.

India, the world’s largest democracy and the US, the oldest continuous democracy, share strategic, diplomatic, defence and trade partnerships and people relations.

There are more than 50 dialogue initiatives between the two governments, according to India's Ministry of External Affairs, including the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue that has been held since 2018.