2+2 dialogue of India and US

In news–The fourth ‘2+2’ dialogue between India and the United States was held in Washington DC recently.

Key highlights of recent dialogue-

As part of the dialogue, India’s External Affairs and Defence Ministers, S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh met their American counterparts, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
The Dialogue was preceded by a virtual meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joseph Biden.
Both sides have agreed on the need to revitalise the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) with joint projects on advanced and emerging and critical military technologies, to be executed quickly.
Both sides have reaffirmed their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.

About ‘2+2’ dialogue-

The 2+2 dialogue is a format of meeting of the foreign and defence ministers of India and its allies on strategic and security issues.
A 2+2 ministerial dialogue enables the partners to better understand and appreciate each other’s strategic concerns and sensitivities taking into account political factors on both sides, in order to build a stronger, more integrated strategic relationship in a rapidly changing global environment.
India has 2+2 dialogues with four key strategic partners: the US, Australia, Japan, and Russia.
Besides Russia, the other three countries are also India’s partners in the Quad.
The inaugural 2+2 dialogue with Australia was held in September 2021 in New Delhi.
India held its first 2+2 dialogue with Russia in December 2021 in India.
The first India-Japan talks in the 2+2 format were held between the two countries in November 2019 in New Delhi.

The first 2+2 dialogue between the two countries was held during the Trump Administration (the late Sushma Swaraj MEA and then Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ) in New Delhi in September 2018.
The second and third editions of the 2+2 dialogues were held in Washington DC and New Delhi in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Over the years, the strategic bilateral relationship with its partners, including the dialogues held in the 2+2 format, have produced tangible and far-reaching results for India.
India and the US have signed a troika of “foundational pacts” for deep military cooperation, beginning with the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016, followed by the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) after the first 2+2 dialogue in 2018, and then the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) in 2020.