'Made important steps to strengthen defence ties': Garcetti on recently concluded India-US 2+2 Dialogue

Referring to the recently concluded India-US 2+2 Dialogue, US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti on Monday said that the two countries made important steps toward strengthening their major defence partnership which continues to grow.Speaking at an event in the nation capital, Garcetti said, "We made important steps toward strengthening our major defence partnership which continues to grow, increasing acceleration that we've seen through initiatives like the roadmap of US-India Industrial Cooperation, US-India Defence Acceleration Ecosystem and expanded collaboration and cooperation in emerging domains..."He further said that the joint statement reflects both country's resolve to promote resilient rules-based international order to safeguard free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific through the QUAD and other mechanisms."I think the joint statement reflects both country's resolve to promote resilient rules-based international order to safeguard free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific through the QUAD and other mechanisms," he said."On Global issues, the ministers discussed the tragic humanitarian consequences of the conflict in Ukraine and in the Middle East, reiterating their stance with Israel against terrorism, but also seeking to alleviate civilian suffering and adherence to international humanitarian law," added Garcetti.Garcetti said the two countries also discussed ways to deepen science and technology partnerships to harness technology for the global good."Our countries discussed ways to deepen our science and our technology partnerships to harness technology for the global good instead of technology that harms us and divides us, technology that can connect us and protect us. These efforts are moving forward at a record-breaking speed under the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET). Over the past year, we've seen so many advances, and we're looking forward to welcoming more visitors and to December-January around iCET themes. But so many major investments in Indian technology by US private sector companies as well as government-to-government conversations, expanding around space, defence co-production, and planetary defence as well"He further stressed that New Delhi and Washington should deepen their Artificial Intelligence (AI) conversation."India-US collaboration and cooperation in emerging domains, and also more importantly, because we sometimes just focus on weapons and what's being sold, or potentially co-developed. But the operational level of our militaries, which I think is as critical as any equipment, and our countries discuss ways to deepen our science and our technology partnerships to harness technology with the global good instead of technology that harms us than divides us, technology that can connect us and protect us," he said.Garcetti also informed that the US administration is in conversation with the Indian government to get more staff at consulates and is also speeding up visas.The India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue was held in the national capital last week. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh participated in the meeting with their US counterparts; Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin.The dialogue provides a platform for top-level discussions between the US and India, where the leaders of the US and India discuss critical bilateral and global matters, with special emphasis on developments unfolding in the Indo-Pacific region.With inputs from agencies