External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and White House National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan met on Wednesday and discussed issues related to U.S.-India strategic partnership, the Ukraine war and a free and open Indo-Pacific.
The White House said the meeting comprised a review of the strategic relationship and an exchange of views of regional and global priorities. Mr. Jaishankar specifically mentioned that “the Indo-Pacific situation, South Asia and the Gulf” were discussed. Their meeting also included a discussion of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its impact on food and energy insecurity, according to the White House and a tweet from Mr. Jaishankar.
In the context of the forthcoming G20 Indian presidency, Mr. Jaishankar and Mr. Sullivan discussed approaches to debt sustainability and promoting “a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific”, according to the White House. The Minister is also meeting industry bodies and advocacy groups on his visit.
On Tuesday, he participated in a roundtable with executives organised by the U.S. India Business Council, and on Wednesday, he is scheduled to meet with the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum. Neither event was open to the press.
The Minister met U.S. Democrat lawmakers on Tuesday at India House, the Indian Ambassador’s official residence. These meetings were not accessible to the press but Mr. Jaishankar’s Twitter handle suggested he had met with Representative Ami Bera, Senator Jon Ossoff , Senator Mark Warner, Senator Chris Coons and Representative Jerry McNerney. Press access to Indian media organisations for some of the events in the Washington DC leg of Mr. Jaishankar’s visit was uneven or precluded. At a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, the government had allocated both question slots available to the Indian press corps to Indian news agencies. The allocation of the two slots on the U.S. side, however, was decided by resident correspondents at the State Department themselves.
Mr. Jaishankar’s visit to Washington concludes on Wednesday.
