NEW DELHI, June 25: Terrorism and Afghanistan related issues will definitely figure at the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s parleys with External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar in Delhi on Wednesday.
“What I have seen is that in most of our conversations with the US, terrorism and cross border terrorism is an inescapable issue,” a diplomatic source said here.
“So, I expect this issue to be high on agenda,” the source said.
Meanwhile, during his visit to Gujarat to file nomination papers for Rajya Sabha elections, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said: “We will be meeting (Mr Pompeo) with a positive attitude”.
He further said both sides will discuss at details on trade issues.
Notably, the Pompeo-Jaishankar meet will happen amid irritants and growing strains in the trade economic relationship.
Incidentally, Mr Pompeo had heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and had said -“Modi hai toh mumkin hai” about two weeks back and lately an US official also lauded diplomat-turned- External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar.
Hailing Dr Jaishankar, the US official has said the Trump administration does consider External Affairs Minister as “one of the visionaries behind the expansion of the US-India Strategic Partnership”.
Sources also said that both the Ministers (Jaishankar and Pompeo) will not be looking at “resolving issues” or signing MoUs.
“We should look beyond MoUs. The maximum benefits we can get out of this talk is what goes inside the hall and not what happens outside. Therefore, we should not look at Pompeo’s visit to India – first since the re-election of the Modi government – not from the point of view of how many MoUs have been inked or otherwise,” a diplomatic source said here.
India is definitely not approaching this visit eyeing towards MoUs and other things. “This is a visit about two Ministers Mr Pompeo and Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar getting to know each other. Because we will have many things to do at a later stage”.
In terms of Indian role on the ongoing Iran-US conflict, sources said: “No body has asked us to play any mediatory role and whatever is being done, we are doing at our own interest” – in reference to a role India could possibly play in urging both Iran and the US to ‘de-escalate’ tension in the region.
For its part, the US administration has said that Iran too will figure prominently at the talks.
“Iran will be on the agenda, but again, this is an area where we have succeeded in working well with India,” one official said last week adding “We appreciate the steps India has taken to reduce its crude oil imports from Iran. I think India shares our concerns about the possibility of a nuclear Iran. It is not something that contributes to regional stability”.
US Secretary of State will be in India late today evening fresh from a trip to the Gulf aimed at building a global coalition against Iran.
Mr Pompeo is seeking to strengthen ties in the Indo-Pacific region and there are possibilities of talks on New Delhi’s plans to purchase the S-400 air defense system from Russia.
Sources remain optimistic that there could be a ‘US waiver’ vis-a-vis Indian deal with the Russians for the defence system.
Sources said here that the long standing defence relations between India and Russia cannot be wished away.
The visit will take place days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds bilateral meeting with the US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of G-20 summit at Osaka on June 28.
Last year, India and the US held the first 2+2 dialogue, and issues like defence cooperation and high-technology trade which were discussed, are also likely to be discussed during Jaishankar-Pompeo meeting.
The Ministry of External Affairs has said last week that the overall direction and trajectory of the Indo-US relationship remains very positive and the bilateral trade has almost touch $150 billion and there has been a growth every year in the last few years. (UNI)
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