The meeting is taking place under the shadow of a fierce border row between India and China, both members of the influential bloc.
The relation between India and China has broad influence on Asia's security and the United States will continue to engage with them to encourage regional stability, the nominee for the Pentagon's top policy post for the Asia-Pacific region said.
The two-plus-two dialogue will be held on Tuesday. A host of crucial bilateral, regional and global issues including China's efforts to expand influence in the Indo-Pacific region as well as its aggressive behaviour in eastern Ladakh is likely to figure in the talks.
Calling India and the United States "natural partners", President Barack Obama said the two countries have elevated their relationship and are committed to a new partnership.
'There will not be a consensus to treat India separately from everybody else,' says security expert Michael Krepon.
The EU's assistance comes as part of its 'strategic partnership' with India and will be made available by the European Investment Bank to ICICI Bank in the first-ever cooperation between the two financial institutions.
Secretary Tillerson met with Foreign Secretary Jaishankar on Friday to discuss the US-India relationship and the agenda for Prime Minister Modi's meetings at the White House on June 26, a State Department spokesman said told PTI.
The India-Japan 2+2 dialogue added strategic heft to the special relationship in the wake of growing Chinese assertiveness on regional affairs, points out Dr Rajaram Panda.
Moon Jae-in's visit will play a crucial role in exploring complementarities between India's Act East policy and South Korea's New Southern policy, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
The PM held bilateral meetings with three ASEAN leaders, including his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and discussed key bilateral and regional issues.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday arrived in Moscow on the first leg of a two-nation visit, during which he will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to strengthen bilateral strategic partnership.
Two top United States lawmakers have introduced a legislation in the House of Representatives to designate India as a special global partner of America
The two countries said their goal is to promote synergies in all aspects of space collaboration, including satellite fabrication and launch.
This could be their last meeting as leaders of the two countries with Obama's second term as US President coming to an end in November.
Defence, security, science and technology, trade and culture are some of the issues on the plate for the talks.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation's largest oil firm, has renewed a deal to buy up to 2 million tonnes of crude oil in 2022 from Russia's Rosneft, the Russian oil producer said. IOC had in February 2020 signed a deal with Rosneft Oil Company to import up to 2 million tonnes of oil via the port of Novorossiysk. In 2021, the deal envisaged supply of up to 1.7 million tonnes of crude oil but IOC bought just on parcel or shipload as the cost of transporting the oil made it uneconomical, when compared to alternatives. For 2022, the deal is for the supply of up to 2 million tonnes of oil from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
The navies of India, the US, Japan and Australia on Tuesday held a series of complex manoeuvres in the Bay of Bengal, kick-starting the four-day-long first phase of the Malabar naval exercise, seen as a prelude to future military cooperation among the member nations of the Quad or Quadrilateral Coalition.
Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the city state is a major partner in almost every area of India's transformation.
'Beyond the strategic aspects of the relationship, India should jump-start the process of economic liberalisation, which, at present, appears to have stalled. Again, self-interest suggests it may be desirable to do so'
In the opinion piece after the summit, the leaders said the cooperation, known as "the Quad," was born in crisis. It became a diplomatic dialogue in 2007 and was reborn in 2017.
'The fact that Modi and Xi exuded confidence to accelerate the negotiations for a border settlement alone underscores that the Russia-India-China triangle has become very dynamic,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
United States President-elect Joseph Biden has always been a strong supporter of India and India-US partnership since his days in Senate and later as a Vice-President.
It is the first visit abroad by a senior Union minister in four months as foreign travels were restricted in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
Countries that have signed the RCEP agreement can start negotiations with India for joining the pact once New Delhi submits a written request stating its intention for the same, according to a declaration. On November 4 last year, India walked out of mega free trade agreement RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) as negotiations failed to address New Delhi's outstanding issues and concerns. The remaining 15 member countries have signed RCEP agreement and have stated that the pact would remain open to India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on spoke to French President Francois Hollande over the terror attack in Paris and reaffirmed his commitment to enhance Indo-French counter-terrorism cooperation as a key element.
'India will come increasingly in the US crosshairs if it insists on maintaining its strategic autonomy, warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India's decision to heed to Australia's request to be part of the mega naval drill comes in the midst of growing strain in ties with China over the border row in eastern Ladakh.
The summit probably fulfilled the expectations on both sides, but the bar of expectations was intentionally kept low, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The US wants its trade with India to grow multi-fold, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal told lawmakers.
The former Chief of Army Staff said India faces the most complex threats and challenges spanning a full spectrum of possible conflict -- from nuclear to sub-conventional -- but asserted that the armed forces are ready to deal with them.
An India-Japan civil nuclear pact would be critical in signalling that they would like to build a partnership to bring stability to the region at a time when China is going all out to reward Pakistan with civilian nuclear reactors, says Harsh V Pant.
'Even as discord over US-India trade and commerce colours diplomatic relations, defence relations between the two countries remain on a firm footing,' points out Ajai Shukla.
Text of PM Narendra Modi's press statement after delegation level talks with US President Obama at the Hyderabad House in Delhi.
The reaffirmation from the US comes in the backdrop of the maiden India US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue which was held on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday described India and America as "natural partners" as he held the first in-person meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House during which they decided to further cement the Indo-US strategic partnership and discussed global issues of common interest, including threats to democracy and the Indo-Pacific.
India on Thursday secured Mexico's backing in its bid to become member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group as it aggressively scouted for support ahead of a crucial meeting of the 48-nation nuclear trading bloc in Vienna.
'We use the word "historic" perhaps too much, but the prime minister's visit certainly was historic in so many ways.'
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's first State visit to India is an indication of the success of India's Act East Policy, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
The two countries also asked all nations to stop cross-border movement of terrorists and asserted that a decisive collective response from the international community without 'double standards and selectivity' was required to combat the threat of terrorism.
