The White House stated on Wednesday that India remains a strategic partner for the US, adding that it is up to New Delhi to decide their stance on the Israel- Palestine conflict.
#FPWorld: “India is a key strategic partner of the US and we’re dedicated to advancing that partnership, every single day,” said a top White House official ahead of the India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue scheduled in New Delhi on November 10.https://t.co/tUIhcVkSKg
— Firstpost (@firstpost) November 9, 2023
India Free to Decide Stance on Israel-Palestine
John Kirby, the White House’s Coordinator for Strategic Communications, told reporters during a press conference that “India is a key strategic partner, and I think you saw that on full display when Prime Minister Modi was here.”
During the briefing, when questioned about India’s role in conflict resolution considering its closeness to Israel and Palestine, Kirby responded, “We’ll leave it to the Indian government and to President — and to the Prime Minister - to decide what their stance is going to be on any particular crisis or contingency around the world, including the Middle East.”
“They [India] remain a key strategic partner. And we’re dedicated to advancing that partnership every single day," Kirby added.
US Defence Secretary Scheduled Visit to India
On Friday, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar will welcome their US counterparts, Defence Secretary Lloyd J. Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for the annual 2+2 summit in New Delhi.
According to the official statement by the US, Austin will meet with Rajnath Singh in New Delhi as the two nations collaborate to enhance interoperability and fortify military industry collaboration through the INDUS-X, or India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem.
Austin and Singh will also discuss defence cooperation between the US and India, including bilateral exercises in the Indian Ocean and multilateral engagements with other regional partners.
Deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel also confirmed the news during his daily news conference, “India is a country that we have a deep partnership [with]. He [Blinken] will be going for the 2+2 security dialogue with Secretary of Defense Austin, so I expect, of course, that deepening the security cooperation and partnership will be one of the many topics that are discussed.”
India-US 2+2 Dialogue
The 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, a yearly diplomatic meeting conducted since 2018, brings India’s foreign and defence ministers together with their American counterparts. Its objective is to address and work on mutual challenges in order to improve and deepen India-US ties.
An MEA statement noted that “the 2+2 will enable a high-level review of progress being made in cross-cutting aspects of defence and security cooperation, technology value chain collaborations, and people-to-people ties.”
“The Ministers will take the opportunity to progress the futuristic roadmap 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 statement read.
Earlier this year, the US and India unveiled their strategic partnership roadmap, which outlined key areas for collaboration such as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance technologies, undersea domain awareness, air combat and support, munition systems, and mobility.