India and the United States discussed the US-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, noting the growing closeness and cooperation across multiple areas of the relationship

India and the United States agreed to further strengthen the quadrilateral consultations with Australia and Japan. This decision was arrived at India-US two plus two inter-sessional meeting of the US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, held on Friday in a virtual format.

According to the State Department statement quoted by The Times of India, maintained,, “Both sides (India and the US) agreed to further strengthen consultation through US-India-Australia-Japan Quadrilateral consultations” as they prepared for the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue later this year.”

The two sides welcomed the opportunity to discuss the US-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, noting the increased closeness and cooperation across multiple areas of the relationship.

A range of bilateral, regional, and multilateral issues, including combating COVID-19, counterterrorism, and efforts to counteract recent destabilizing actions in South Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific region were discussed during the meeting, said a PTI report carried by Times of India.

The US underlined the importance of India’s status as a ‘Major Defence Partner’, growing military-to-military cooperation and other defense priorities, the report quoted the State Department statement.

It further said that “the world will not allow China to treat the strategically important South China Sea as its "maritime empire.”

The American delegation was led by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Dean Thompson and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs David Helvey, the report revealed.

The India-US talks came amidst tension along India's border with China.

Meanwhile, India and China agreed on a five-point plan for resolving the border face-off during the talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on Thursday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s foreign ministers’ meeting.