Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks with Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on September 28, 2023, at the State Department in Washington.
| Photo Credit: AP

Kicking off the Washington segment of his U.S. trip, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met with U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. As The Hindu went to press, Mr. Jaishankar was also in talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The meetings are routine but also particularly significant given the recent and serious diplomatic challenges in the India-Canada relationship following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation that the Indian Government was linked to the assassination of a Khalistani separatist leader in British Columbia.

Officials have not, thus far, commented in any detail on the agenda of either the White House or State Department meetings, which come three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington and entail follow up work from that visit. Mr. Modi’s June visit saw the announcement of a large set of programmes, from space to health. Mr. Jaishankar also routinely visits Washington DC in the fall, following his visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session.

“Recognised the tremendous progress in our bilateral relationship this year and discussed taking it forward,” Mr. Jaishankar tweeted describing his Thursday morning meeting with Mr. Sullivan.

He also announced that he had an interaction with think tanks in Washington posting a photograph on X (formerly Twitter), of the interaction, which included India’s Ambassador to the U.S., Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

“Discussed transformations underway around the world and India’s growing role,” Mr. Jaishankar said. Both interactions were closed to the press.