Foreign Secretary Jaishankar to attend working lunch with US Under Secretary Shannon

After meeting United States House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, visiting Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar is expected to attend a working lunch with U.S. Under Secretary Thomas Shannon on Thursday.

Jaishankar is expected to have a series of meetings with senior officials at both the State Department and the White House. It isn't, however, clear who he will meet, given that many of the positions at the U.S. State Department are yet to be filled, including that of the Deputy Secretary of the State and the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.

During his stay in Washington, Jaishankar will also try and get a sense of the Trump Administration's policies with regard to India and how the governments of both countries can collaborate in areas of mutual interest, including counter-terrorism and security issues in the Indian Ocean region.

At a time of transition in bilateral relations between India and the United States, Foreign Secretary Jaishankar is in Washington to sensitise the Trump Administration about India's concerns over ensuring the security of Indian nationals in the United States following reports of a possible cut in H1B and L1 visas.

Jaishankar's four-day visit to the United States comes days after an Indian software engineer was shot dead in Kansas.

This is Jaishankar's second visit to the United States since Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States.