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New Delhi: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is likely to travel to India in early March and the details of his visit are being worked out, reported news agency ANI citing sources familiar with the development.
It reported quoting an official that the State Department is planning Blinken’s visit in the first week of March, which would be a run-up to President Joe Biden’s meeting with Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) leaders.
“Secretary Blinken will be meeting his Indian counterpart and other officials to lay the groundwork for the upcoming Quad leaders summit in May 2023,” the source added as quoted by ANI.
This will be the third annual leaders’ summit of Quad members India, Australia, Japan and the US. Tokyo was the host of the last summit in May 2022.
“The summit is expected to be held in Sydney and for now, most likely all four leaders will be present in person for the summit. President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will travel to Sydney to meet Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to further cement the Quad cooperation,” ANI quoted another person familiar with the developments.
Secretary Antony Blinken will also be attending the Raisina Dialogue and is expected to address the same.
Raisina dialogue is held annually and is a multilateral conference on geopolitics and geo-economics that the Observer Research Foundation, an independent think tank, in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs of India hosts.
This year it will be held from March 2-4 in New Delhi.
Earlier in November, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India summit in Cambodia. They discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Indo-Pacific region and bilateral ties between India and the US, the ANI report added.
According to the news agency, US Secretary Blinken is also expected to travel to China in early February, however, no official announcements have been made as yet.
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