‘2+2 talks’ is a term used in foreign diplomacy that means a meeting between two countries’ defence and external affairs ministries.  India holds such talks with Japan , Australia and the US. Now, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh were in Washington for the ‘2+ 2’ foreign and defence ministry dialogues with their U.S. counterparts- Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony J Blinken. However, before the 2 + 2 talks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden met virtually on Monday 11th April morning. In the virtual meet, Mr Modi said the recent reports of killings of innocent civilians in Bucha city were very worrying and that India immediately condemned it and demanded a fair investigation. He added, “Our talks today are taking place at a time when the situation in Ukraine remains very worrying. Till a few weeks ago, more than 20,000 Indians were stranded in Ukraine. After a lot of hard work, we were able to get them out of there safely, although one student lost his life. "Not only did I appeal for peace, but I also suggested to President Putin to have direct talks with the President of Ukraine. We hope that the ongoing dialogue between Russia and Ukraine will lead to peace,"Mr Modi said. "On our behalf, we have sent medicines and other relief materials to Ukraine and its neighbouring countries. And on the demand of Ukraine we are sending another consignment of medicines very soon," Modi said. In response, Biden said, "I want to welcome India's humanitarian support for the people of Ukraine who are suffering the horrific assault." 

After the meeting the Senior US administration officials said the two leaders had a warm and candid conversation lasting an hour. The US President did not make any specific demand that India end Russian energy imports, and Modi did not make any concrete commitments to stop such imports. The officials said, "We are not going to tell India what to do. Other countries have to make their own choices. However, we don't think India should increase imports of Russian energy.” Before the India-United States bilateral two plus-two dialogue, US secretary of defence told India’s defense minister Rajnath Singh that his country (USA) would stand alongside India to protect itself if China’s attacks or has a warlike behaviour on its northern border. Singh stressed the need for co-development and co-production of high-tech weapons by India and the US. He also asked the American defence and aerospace companies to take advantage of his government’s initiatives to set up production facilities in India 

Tags

• Narendra
• Modi
• Joe
• Biden
• USA
• India
• Russia
• Uk

Advertisement