US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter visits Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam: On his first visit to India since assuming the role of US Secretary of Defence Dr Ashton Carter on Tuesday arrived in Visakhapatnam.

Ministry of Defence spokesperson Sitanshu Kar took to microblogging website Twitter to announce Carter's arrival here.

US DefSecy Ashton Carter being accorded a warm welcome on arrival at INS Dega, Vizag. pic.twitter.com/AHVuK5luEE — Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) June 2, 2015

Later, the US Defence Secretary visited the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam. He will be flying to New Delhi this evening.

US DefSecy Ashton Carter being briefed about the activities of the Eastern Naval Command at Vizag. @USSECDEF pic.twitter.com/9cyBHE1LHt

— Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) June 2, 2015

Carter also visited the indigenous Shivalik class stealth multi-role frigate, INS Sahyadri.

Leading a high-level US delegation, Carter, during his three-day visit, meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Carter had earlier visited India in September 2013 and July 2012 as US Deputy Secretary of Defence.

As US Deputy Secretary, Dr Carter was the main architect of the India-US Defence Technology and Trade Initiative, and advocated support for treating India at the same level as their closest partner in terms of extent and level of technology transfer, co-development, co-production and collaborative ventures; expedited approval process for licenses, etc.