India, US take stock of bilateral ties

India and the US today took stock of their bilateral ties and implementation of decisions taken at the summit between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January besides reviewing the security scenario in the region.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman deliberated on an entire range of key issues including those of strategic interest as part of the India-US Foreign Office Consultation.
"During the meeting, the whole range of bilateral ties was discussed and implementation of the Summit decisions reviewed. Discussions were also held on regional issues, including relief and rescue operations in Nepal," the External Affairs Ministry said.

India and the US had managed to break the seven-year-old logjam in operationalising their landmark civil nuclear agreement during Obama's talks with Modi here in January.
Both sides had also agreed on four projects under the Defence Technology Transfer Initiative (DTTI) including exploring development of advanced jets in India.
The review of ties today came nearly a month before the visit of new US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter here during which both sides will sign the enhanced Defence Framework Agreement for the next 10 years. A number of other deals are likely to be finalised during his visit.

Sherman also called on External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Later Sherman said she was confident that a number of projects and business pacts will be finalsed and there will be steps towards counter-terrorism by the time both the countries hold the annual strategic dialogue later this year.
On the sidelines of the Foreign Office Consultation, India-US Dialogue on Africa was held between delegations led by Joint Secretary, South and East Africa in Ministry of External Affairs on Indian side and Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
The Dialogue on West Asia between delegations of the two countries was also held during which both sides deliberated on situation in the Gulf region.