What is the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue that India and the US had?

On November 10, Rajnath Singh, Indian Defence Minister, and S Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister met with the United States Defense Secretary and the Secretary of State of the United States in New Delhi for the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue.

Since the year 2018, the 2+2 meetings have taken place with the United States leaders. The meeting this time marked the fifth 2+2 Ministerial Dialogues meeting. What is the format of the meeting? Let's understand with some added information.

The 2+2 meetings

The 2+2 meetings represent the participation of two high-profile ministers belonging to the Defense and Foreign portfolios from each of the two nations aiming to improve the extent of dialogue between them.

Such a mechanism makes it possible for the partners to better understand the strategic concerns of the countries, which further helps in building a more robust and integrated strategic relationship.

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India's 2+2 partners

The first 2+2 dialogues between India and the United States were held at the time of the Trump Administration. At this time, Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and late Sushma Swara met with James Mattis, the then US Secretary of Defense, and Michael Pompeo, the then US Secretary of State in September 2018.

The meeting was considered a replacement for the Strategic and Commercial Dialogue held between the commerce and foreign ministers of India and the United States at the time of the previous Obama administration.

The United States is the oldest 2+2 talks partner of India.

Moreover, India has held various 2+2 meetings with other countries as well, such as Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Australia. This year, Antony Blinken talked about the importance of India's relations with some of these nations that are US allies as well.

“We are promoting a free and open, prosperous, secure and resilient Indo-Pacific, including by strengthening our partnership through the QUAD with Japan and Australia,” Blinken said.

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, abbreviated as QUAD is an informal security forum comprising of these four countries as its members.

It was in the year 2019 when the talks with Japan started through this platform. The aim of the talks was that it would further improve the strategic depth of defense cooperation and bilateral security, as per a joint press release.

In the year 2021, the 2+2 meetings with Russia and Australia took place. Moreover, the first 2+2 meeting with the United Kingdom took place in October 2023.

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