The 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue is a diplomatic summit that has been held every year since 2018 initially between the Minister of External Affairs or Foreign Minister, and Defence Minister of India with the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense of the United States to discuss and work on common issues of concern to improve and strengthen India–United States relations.
In 2019, the summit involved the respective Foreign and Defence ministers between both India and Japan. In 2021, the summit was expanded to meetings with the Foreign and Defence ministers of Australia and Russia.
History
The dialogue came to existence from an agreement between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump. The dialogue was created to replace the Strategic and Commercial Dialogue which started under the Obama administration. Both nations agreed to the summit during Modi's visit to the United States in June 2017 which was officially announced the following month in August after a phone call between Modi and Trump.
The first summit was supposed to be held on July 6, 2018, in Washington, D.C., but had been postponed by India's Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, citing "unavoidable reasons". This was the third time the dialogue was postponed.
2018
The first summit was held on September 6 between the Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis in New Delhi. The meeting between both sides reaffirmed the U.S.'s designation of India as a "Major Defense Partner". India was granted license-free exports, re-exports, and transfers under the License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization. India and the U.S. signed a Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement which facilitates interoperability between militaries and sale of high-end technology. The summit resulted in both sides beginning negotiations for the Industrial Security Annex which would allow U.S. defense firms to sell military equipment to Indian partners.
Among other things that were agreed upon was continuing to deepen cooperation in counterterrorism, facilitate peace in Afghanistan, increase further economic cooperation, and the establishment of six nuclear power plans in India between Nuclear Power Corporation of India and Westinghouse Electric Company. Representatives from both countries agreed to turn the meeting into an annual affair.
2019
The second summit was held on December 18 in Washington, D.C., between Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Minister of External Affairs, S. Jaishankar, and Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh. The meeting revolved most of the areas of concern from the previous year. The ministers and secretaries welcomed the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue that was held between India, the United States, Australia, and Japan in September.
The meeting resulted in both countries signing the Industrial Security Annex which allowed one-hundred and fourteen fighter jets to be sold to India. Both sides were still negotiating the final details of signing the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation agreement.
2020
The third summit was held on October 27 in New Delhi where both sides announced the signing of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation and with the United States vowing to support India's "territorial sovereignty and liberty" which was a response to the May skirmishes between India and China's armed forces at the disputed region of their border known as the Line of Actual Control. Secretary Pompeo described the Chinese Communist Party as "no friend to democracy". Both sides also discussed combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021
In November, it was announced that the fourth meeting between India and the U.S. would be held in November and have the possibility of both Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden meeting in Washington, but no date was set for the summit. In October, officials from both countries had discussed regional issues during the sixteenth US-India Defence Policy Group meeting that was said to lay the groundwork for the next 2+2 dialogue.
On December 16, the Minister of External Affairs spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi, announced that a 2+2 was unlikely to be held in 2021 as details including a date had yet to be finalized. However, no 2+2 summit was held in 2021.