New Delhi: US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived here Wednesday on a three-day official trip for the annual Indo-US Strategic dialogue and is also expected to lay the groundwork for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-awaited September visit to the US.
During his visit, Kerry and Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will jointly chair the fifth annual India-US Strategic Dialogue at 3 p.m. on Thursday. This will be followed by delegation-level talks.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters here that both Kerry and Sushma Swaraj will interact with the media after the talks.
The media interaction will be followed by a working dinner between Kerry and Sushma Swaraj.
“India-US relation is witnessing a stable and mature growth and the meeting between Sushma Swaraj and Kerry is expected to explore new frontiers and initiatives to strengthen bilateral ties,” Akbaruddin said.
In view of Modi’s scheduled trip to US, the meeting will also explore “transformative initiatives” to move bilateral relations between the world’s two biggest democracies to the next level, he added.
“I can say at this juncture that the visit of Modi will be result-oriented,” Akbaruddin said replying to a question if discussions were on regarding the agenda of the prime minister’s US visit.
He further said that Sushma Swaraj and Kerry will discuss matters of security, including cyber security.
“As far as security is concerned, every matter that impringes on our security issues, and ones where the US can help, will be discussed,” he told the media.
“Cyber security too would be discussed,” he added.
Ahead of visiting India, Kerry, in a major speech, stressed that the US and India had the potential to become indispensable partners for the 21st century and said Washington wanted to support the Modi government’s vision of “sabka saath, sabka vikas (together with all, development for all)”.
