New Delhi, March 20: Elevating the US-India defence partnership is a priority of the Biden administration, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday as he described the relationship between the two countries as a “stronghold” of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
After holding wide-ranging talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Austin said India is an increasingly important partner amid rapidly shifting international dynamics and Washington was committed to a “forward-looking” defence partnership with New Delhi as a central pillar of its approach to the region.
Austin arrived here on Friday on a three-day visit as part of his three-nation first overseas tour that signalled the Biden administration’s strong commitment to its relations with its close allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region. He visited Japan and South Korea before India. “I reaffirmed our commitment to a comprehensive and forward-looking defence partnership with India as a central pillar of our approach to the region,” he said in a media statement in presence of Singh “As the world faces a global pandemic and growing challenges to an open and stable international system, the US-India relationship is a stronghold of a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
The US Defence Secretary said as the Indo-Pacific region faces challenges to a free and open regional order, cooperation among like-minded countries is imperative to securing the shared vision for the future. “We discussed opportunities to elevate the US-India Major Defence Partnership…a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration through regional security cooperation, military-to-military interactions, and defence trade,” Austin said. (PTI)
