US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is scheduled to welcome India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to the Pentagon on August 23.
Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh emphasized the significance of the U.S.-India relationship, noting, “The relationship with India remains one of great importance. It’s one of great importance to the Indo-Pacific as well. There’s a visit coming up and when we have more to share on that, we certainly will,” during a news conference on Thursday.
The upcoming meeting will see the two leaders addressing various bilateral and regional topics, along with exploring ways to bolster the partnership between the two largest democracies in the world.
Sabrina Singh refrained from providing specifics about the meeting, stating, “I’m not going to get ahead of the secretary or any meetings that he’s doing”.
“As always, we will have a readout of his meeting. I just don’t have more to provide on the front end, but we will on the back end, as we always do,” she added.
The Pentagon representative highlighted the strong military bond between India and the U.S. “The (defense) secretary, you know, visited India on one of his trips to the Indo-Pacific. India is an important partner when it comes to the Indo-Pacific and much of the NDS (National Defense Strategy) that continues to guide. This department is focused on the Indo-Pacific and our pacing challenge of China and India has shown to be a great partner in that. So, our military to military relationship is strong,” Sabrina Singh said.
Rajnath Singh’s visit marks the highest-profile trip by an Indian cabinet minister to the U.S. since Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his third term in June.
