Washington: Following their one-on-one meeting at the US State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked External Affairs Minister S. Jaishakar, who is currently in Washington for the second leg of his America tour, for hosting President Joe Biden earlier this month during the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi.
In a post on X earlier on Thursday, Jaishankar said: “Great to meet my friend US Secretary of State Blinken at State Department today. A wide ranging discussion, following up on PM Narendra Modi’s June visit.
“Also exchanged notes on global developments. Laid the groundwork of our 2+2 meeting very soon.”
Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin will travel to New Delhi for the annual 2+2 ministerial meeting, which is being hosted this year by India.
Before meeting the Secretary of State, Jaishankar also told reporters that “we thank the US for all the support to the G20 summit… And I actually look forward to seeing you (Blinken) in Delhi”.
In response, Blinken said on X: “Thank you to Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar for hosting POTUS (President of the US) earlier this month. We discussed India’s successful G20 presidency, creation of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, and the upcoming US-India 2+2 Dialogue in New Delhi.”
About the meeting with the External Affairs Minister, he told mediapersons that “we’ve had very good discussions over the last weeks, of course at the G20, in New York and the General Assembly.”
Jaishankar began his US tour in New York where he led the Indian delegation at the annual UN General Assembly meetings.
Besides Blinken, he also met National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan at the White House during and Trade Secretary Katherine Tai.
At his meeting with Sullivan, the two officials “recognised the tremendous progress in our bilateral relationship this year and discussed taking it forward”.
Next, he met Secretary Tai and discussed “expanding trade and economic relationship and its broader significance”.
