India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra has met US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks and they discussed the importance of expanding the scope of bilateral military engagements, the Pentagon said. Kwatra is in the US for a series of meetings with senior officials of the US government and interaction with industry leaders to advance bilateral cooperation in areas like defence and technology.

The foreign secretary was on a three-day official visit to Washington and left for New York on Friday.

Hicks and Kwatra discussed priorities for strengthening the US-India defence partnership, including the implementation of the roadmap for the US-India Defense Industrial Cooperation, Pentagon spokesperson Eric Pahon said.

The two officials underscored the historic momentum in the Major Defense Partnership in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific, according to an official statement.

They applauded the efforts by both countries to advance the co-production of fighter jet engines and armoured vehicles, as well as the continued success of the India-US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) in promoting innovation and partnerships between US and Indian researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors, it said.

Kwatra and Hicks also spoke about the importance of expanding the scope of US-India military engagements to strengthen cooperation across all domains while highlighting the shared efforts to promote stability and security in the Indo-Pacific, Pahon said. They also discussed a range of regional security issues and committed to collaborating closely in support of a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific, the statement.