Officials in New Delhi expect to discuss matters of mutual trade, defense and joint cooperation in counterterrorism during US President Donald Trump's first official visit to India next week, Indian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday
NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2020) Officials in New Delhi expect to discuss matters of mutual trade, defense and joint cooperation in counterterrorism during US President Donald Trump's first official visit to India next week, Indian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday.
The president and First Lady Melania Trump will travel to India from February 24-25 to visit the capital city and the western city of Ahmedabad. During his trip, President Trump will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Our [the United States and India] defense relations have expanded by concluding enabling agreements like LEMOA [Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement] and COMCASA [Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement] ... the USA is India's largest trading partner in goods and services, and it is growing at a healthy pace. There is growing cooperation in counterterrorism ... We expect that the talks will deepen our engagement in all the above areas. It would also give [us] an opportunity to exchange views on regional and global issues of shared interests," Kumar said at a briefing.
The foreign ministry spokesman also praised the regular high-level meetings between US and Indian officials, especially the 2+2 ministerial dialogue between the foreign and defense ministers, the most recent round of which was held in December in Washington.
LEMOA facilitates the exchange of logistics support, supplies and services between the two countries' armed forces during joint exercises or missions. COMCASA, on the other hand, allows India to purchase specialized US-made military equipment for encrypted communications.
Despite the positive dynamics in bilateral trade, it is yet unclear whether the highly-anticipated trade deal will be signed in the near future. On Tuesday, Trump told reporters that he was unsure whether the deal would be made before the US presidential election in November and that he was "saving the big deal for later on." Kumar also confirmed that New Delhi would not rush into a trade agreement.
Washington and New Delhi have been cooperating for years in the field of counterterrorism in the form of joint working groups and dialogues. India and the US also signed a deal on the exchange of terrorist screening information in 2016.
