US foreign, defense chiefs to travel to India

NEW DELHI (Reuters),JULY 20 2018- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will travel to New Delhi in September for high-level talks that were twice postponed this year, the Indian foreign ministry announced on Friday.   

Political and military ties between the two countries have expanded in recent years but trade differences have arisen since President Donald Trump took office in 2017.   

New Delhi, which has sought to counter China’s expanding economic and military weight in the region, has also felt a lack of enthusiasm from Washington for ties that had been touted earlier as a “defining partnership”.   

Pompeo and Mattis will hold talks with India Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sept. 6 in what is known as a 2+2 dialogue to drive political and military ties, the foreign ministry said.