India-US ties: US Defence Secretary to visit Delhi next week

The United States Secretary of Defence, Lloyd J Austin III will visit India and meet Defence Minister Rajnath Singh along with other leaders in the national capital next week. The United States and India continue to modernise the US-India major defence partnership.

Apart from India, Lloyd J Austin III will also visit Japan, Singapore, and France next week, according to the news agency ANI.

The White House has earlier said the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US will be an opportunity to reaffirm the deep, close partnership between US and India.

Prime Minister Modi's state visit holds significant importance as it marks his first visit to the US since President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden extended the invitation. The visit will include a state dinner hosted by the US President and First Lady on June 22 to honor the Prime Minister.

On June 22, a historic moment awaits as several thousand Indian Americans are expected to gather on the South Lawns of the White House to witness President Biden and the First Lady extend a warm welcome to Prime Minister Modi with a 21-gun salute.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre said the visit will also strengthen US-India shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific and shared resolve to evaluate strategic technology partnership, including in defence, clean energy and space.

Highlighting the partnership between the US and India, Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State recently said that they are looking forward to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the country.

"We very much look forward to hosting PM Modi and members of the Indian Government. We have an important partnership with India and we look forward to continuing to take steps to deepen that. This state visit will be an immense opportunity to talk about a number of shared priorities," Vedant Patel said.

He said that India and US "have an important partnership," and are looking "forward to deepen that".

(With inputs from agencies)