New Delhi: In an around two-hour-long bilateral meeting between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, key focus areas were Indo-Pacific, the situation in Afghanistan, and a follow up on their Tokyo discussions earlier this month.


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Sources told WION, both sides, "exchanged views on current global situation and its contemporary challenges and discussed our shared concerns and interests including stability and security in Asia, and how best that can be ensured"


External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted, "Pleased to welcome @SecPompeo. Taking our Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership forward," adding "Working closely on plurilateral and multilateral formats. Looking forward to the 2+2 Dialogue tomorrow."


He added, "Warm and productive meeting with @SecPompeo. Discussed key bilateral, regional, and global issues. Reviewed progress in ties: grown substantially in every domain. Our foreign policy consultations and cooperation have expanded."
 



This is the second meeting between the two ministers in a months' time and comes amidst China's aggressiveness not only with India but also with other countries in the region. Earlier this month, both had an in-person meeting also on the sidelines of the QUAD --India, US, Japan and Australia foreign minister meet in Tokyo, Japan.


Other focus areas of discussions were maritime security, open connectivity and resilient supply chains. During the meet, US Secretary of state shared with EAM the Trump Administration’s thinking on Afghanistan with the latter highlighting "India’s stakes and its continuing concern that decisions should be made by Afghans themselves without use of force", sources added.


New Delhi also made, "clear that cross-border terrorism was completely unacceptable." This even as India has called on Pakistan to take action on terror safe havens it has been hosting, something that has gone deaf ears in Islamabad. 


This is the fourth time US Secretary of the state is visiting India under Trump administration and how the closeness between the 2 countries.  


During the meet, EAM called for "supportive policies" that helps in talent flow and underlined that a "innovation partnership is central to our future".  


Washington has been tightening visa rules, something that has been concerning many Indians who have been going to US for jobs, education.  


The number of Indian students studying in the United States has increased five years in a row, doubling from 96,000 students in the 2012- 13 academic year to more than 200,000 in 2018-19.