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2+2 to address U.S. issues on Iran, Russia
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- New Delhi hopes the U.S. will consider the importance of its relationship with India carefully, while considering any moves to sanction defence purchases from Russia under the new CAATSA, or Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act, official sources said on Tuesday ahead of the inaugural Indo-U.S. 2+2 dialogue.
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- It would be the “highest-level” dialogue between the two countries this year.
- Sticky issue remains the U.S. demand that India “zero out” its oil imports from Iran by November, and whether the U.S. will give a waiver to India’s development of the Chabahar port, when a separate set of sanctions kick in.
- Conceding that both actions are a major issue in the bilateral discussions, the official said that India hoped to hear from the U.S. on what options it had on procuring oil.
- Talks on Thursday in Delhi would begin with separate meetings for the Defence and External Affairs Ministry officials with seven-member delegations on both sides.
- All the delegations will then meet for 2+2 talks followed by a working lunch, after which they will jointly call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- The major announcement from the 2+2 talks could be progress on talks to conclude the foundational Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA).
- Two sides are expected to announce a new tri-service amphibious Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise, while a special hotline between the Defence Ministers is also likely to be discussed for approval.
- Officials pointed out that India had “independent relations” with all the major powers and sought to dispel any apprehensions that the dialogue would have a negative impact on relations with other counties.
- The Indo-Pacific policies of both countries, who are engaged in a “Quad” or quadrilateral arrangement with Australia and Japan will be on the agenda.
Source
The Hindu