US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin To Come To India Next Week

The United States Defence Secretary Llyod J Austin III will embark on a four-nation trip which will include a stop in India, from next week, an official statement released by the US Department of Defence said.

The US Defence Secretary will visit Tokyo, Japan first to meet with Japanese Defence Minister Yasukasu Hamada along with other senior leaders and visit US troops stationed in Japan.

Secretary Austin’s visit comes amid the US and Japan moving forward to modernize Alliance capabilities, optimize US force posture, and build connections with like-minded partners after the historic US-Japan “2+2” Ministerial meeting earlier in the year, the official statement added.

From there, Secretary Austin will travel to Singapore where he will be delivering plenary remarks at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) 20^th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

The Secretary will be meeting with key leaders on the sidelines of the dialogue to further advance US defence partnerships across the region in support of the shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific, anchored in ASEAN centrality.

From Singpore, Secretary Austin will head to India. He will meet with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi and other leaders as the US and India continue their bid to modernize the US-India Major Defence Partnership.

The visit will also provide an opportunity to accelerate new defence innovation and industrial cooperation initiatives and drive ongoing efforts to expand operational cooperation between the United States and Indian militaries.

US Defence Secretary Austin’s four-nation trip will end with his visit to France to take part in events that will commemorate the 79^th anniversary of D-Day and meet with the French and United Kingdom defence leaders.

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