Road map laid for India-U.S. meet

Road map laid for India-U.S. meet

News:

1. Indian and U.S. experts began consultation for the upcoming meeting (2+2 dialogue) between the Minister for External Affairs and Defence with their U.S. counterparts.

Important facts:

2. The meeting is scheduled to be held next month in July.

3. Meeting expected to further cement the India-U.S. engagements.

4. The meeting will focus on the  following key areas:

• To strengthen the defence cooperation, the two nations will discuss  on communication compatibility and security agreement.
• Intelligence sharing agreement with India to counter-terror cooperation.
• Sale of armed drones is also on the agenda of the meeting.
• U. S. also interested to give stress on Indo-Pacific strategy, which give importance to India. The U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) was recently renamed Indo-Pacific Command(INDOPACOM), symbolic of the significance U.S. attaches to India in the region.

5. There are four foundational agreements between the two nations:

• Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) that helps the U.S. to intensify its defence cooperation with a partner nation.
• Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation (BECA).
• The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA).
• The Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), which give both nations access to each other’s military facilities.

6. Out of these four foundational agreements, COMCASA and BECA are yet to sign by India.

7. India has already signed the General Security Of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) and the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA).