BiLateral India-US
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the US Defence Secretary, Dr Mark T. Esper during the bilateral meeting, on October 26, 2020. Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar and other dignitaries are also seen.
India-US: Game Changer Meeting Agreements during the visit has opened a new chapter in India-US strategic partnerships and will prove to be a game changer in strategic equations in the region
Photograph: PIB
By Ranjit Kumar The historic visit of US Defence Secretary Mark T. Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to India on October 26 and 27 has finally laid to rest all speculations in the bilateral strategic partnerships. The joint historic visit to New Delhi for 2+2 dialogue with Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar will be remembered for decades to come. The visit has been able to raise the fourth and final pillar of foundation agreement BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement), over which India and US will be building a new structure of bilateral strategic partnership. The two defence establishments, during this third annual 2+2 dialogue, have finally been able to showcase to the strategic community world over that India and US are now the latest strategic
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ISSUE 10 • 2020
partners in letter and spirit. The completion of all four Foundational Agreements during the visit has opened a new chapter in India-US strategic partnerships and will prove to be a game changer in strategic equations in the region. In the backdrop of continuing bellicosity by the Chinese army, the latest BECA agreement has assumed much significance, as India can hope for early delivery of more sophisticated combat capability enhancing systems, which will prove to be a game changer in the current eyeball to eyeball military standoff of the two armies on the border areas of Eastern Ladakh. Besides BECA, the two sides also deliberated at length, the need for enhanced maritime information sharing and maritime domain awareness between their Navies and affirmed their
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