G20, 2+2 talks in focus during Blinken meet

External affairs minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken discussed India's G20 presidency and its outcomes, the recently unveiled India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), and spoke of deepening defence, space and clean energy ties as they focused on areas of bilateral and multilateral cooperation in Washington DC on Thursday.

- Prashant Jha

While India thanked US for its support during the G20 Summit, the two sides also announced they will hold the annual 2+2 dialogue, which brings together the defence and foreign ministers of both countries, in Delhi soon. The meeting is expected in November.

There was no reference to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations linking "agents" of India with a killing of Canadian citizen, a man India designated as a terrorist, in the US readout of the meeting, neither was it mentioned by Jaishankar in his tweet about the meeting. But on Friday, Jaishankar confirmed that the issue had come up in the discussions and both sides had conveyed their views.

Before the bilateral meeting, the two leaders appeared briefly for a press appearance in the historic State Department building.

Blinken said it was a pleasure to welcome his "friend and colleague" Jaishankar. "We have had very good discussions over the last weeks - of course at the G20, in New York at the General Assembly - and I am looking forward to pursuing them this afternoon." This was their third meeting in a month, giving a sense of the intensity of India-US engagement.