India, US 2+2 dialogue to be held in September, says Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi, July 13: The India-US '2+2 dialogue' which was postponed by Trump administration last month due to 'unavoidable reasons' will be held in the first week of September.

Addressing the reporters Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that "the 2+2 dialogue with US is to happen in the first week of September. The agenda will be to develop and strengthen strategic defence cooperation and to follow-on with what had transpired during the meeting with Secretary Defence Mattis."

The two delegations were to meet first on April 18 and senior Indian officials were on their way to Washington for preparatory talks when president Donald Trump fired secretary of state Rex Tillerson and gave his job to Mike Pompeo. Set to take place in Washington on July 6, the dialogue was again postponed because Pompeo had to visit North Korea.

The talks are expected to boost bilateral ease of ties in the backdrop of growing disagreement over the Iran nuclear deal and the brewing tariff war between the two sides.

The high-level dialogue is designed to address bilateral issues following a summit-level meeting between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Modi in 2017.