In the lead up to a meeting between PM Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama in September, the two countries will have a trilateral meeting with Japan in New Delhi on June 23 and 24. During the meeting, issues of connectivity in South Asia, including an economic corridor and humanitarian and disaster response, are expected to be in focus. Apart from working on dates for India-US strategic dialogue between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her American counterpart John Kerry before the Modi-Obama meet, the two sides are also in the process of holding talks in key areas including defence, economic and trade. It is learnt India has decided to move beyond the turbulence triggered by the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in December last and move on the “cooperative process”, as per directions from Modi and Swaraj. However, it is understood that India is pursuing with the US the “serious issues” regarding immunity and other privileges created by the incident to prevent “recurrence” of such events. While the economic and trade forum will be co-chaired by the Commerce Minister, the defence dialogue, which is pending for two years, may also take place before or after Modi’s visit to the US in September.
