The U.S. State Department announced on Friday that U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, will be in South Asia on March 19-23, visiting Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka, along with the top diplomat for South and Central Asia, Donald Lu and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Amanda Dory. The Hindu had reported on this visit earlier this week.
“On each stop, Under Secretary Nuland and the delegation will meet with civil society and business leaders to strengthen economic partnerships and deepen ties in the pursuit of peace, prosperity, and security in the Indo-Pacific region,” the State Department said, underscoring the that the delegation was an inter-agency group - a result of the U.S.’s commitment to the Indo Pacific.
While the statement did not get into specifics of what would be discussed — India’s position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine is expected to be on the agenda. New Delhi is at odds with capitals in the West which have taken a firm position against Moscow.
Preparation for the India-US ‘2+2’ meeting of defence and foreign ministers is also likely to feature in the talks. The ‘2+2” dialogue, was initially expected to take place in Washington DC in the late autumn, early winter of 2021, but was postponed owing to a summit level meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi in December. With a surge in covid-19 cases in the US and India in the December -February period, the meeting got further postponed.
