2+2 Ministerial dialogue | India to sign geo-spatial agreement with U.S.

India and the U.S. will sign the final foundational agreement, Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial cooperation (BECA) in the course of the 2+2 ministerial dialogue on October 27, the Defence Ministry confirmed on October 26.

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“The two Ministers expressed satisfaction that agreement of BECA will be signed during the visit,” the Ministry mentioned in an announcement after bilateral talks between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and U.S. Secretary of Defence Mark Esper. Both Mr. Esper and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived within the nationwide capital on October 26.

The two Ministers reviewed bilateral defence cooperation spanning “military-to-military cooperation, secure communication systems and information sharing, defence trade and industrial issues” and in addition mentioned methods to take bilateral cooperation ahead, the assertion mentioned. Stating that they mentioned potential new areas of cooperation each on the Service-to-Service-level and the joint-level, the Ministry said.

A maritime data agreement can be below dialogue between India and the U.S., an official supply said. India already has such agreement with different Quad international locations, Australia and Japan. As reported by The Hindu final month, within the run up to the 2+2 the U.S. was eager on India signing BECA and discussions continued to iron out the variations. One of the key distinction was the problem of reciprocity in change of geo-spatial information.

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A U.S. State division official mentioned in Washington on October 24 that the talks will give attention to 4 themes — regional safety cooperation, defence data sharing, military-to-military interactions, and defence commerce. “This agreement [BECA] will allow for expanded geospatial information sharing between our armed forces. We are also seeking to expand secure communication capabilities between our respective militaries as well as between our foreign and defence ministries, and that too figures prominently on what we are trying to accomplish in the information-sharing space,” he said.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Mr. Pompeo held talks within the night at Hyderabad House. The 2+2 inter-ministerial talks are scheduled to be held at 10 a.m. on October 26. Later the 2 visiting Secretaries will name on the Prime Minister at his residence. After the talks on Tuesday, U.S. officers will go away on a visit to Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia.

Beginning 2016, India has signed three foundational agreements: the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) whereas the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) was signed a very long time in the past. An extension to the GSOMIA, the Industrial Security Annex (ISA), was signed on the final 2+2 dialogue.

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The Ministry mentioned the 2 Ministers “also discussed requirements of expanding deployments of liaison officers”. India has posted a liaison officer on the U.S. Navy Central Command in Bahrain lately and can be contemplating a U.S. request for posting liaison officers on the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) and the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). The U.S. has already posted a liaison officer on the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre for Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) meant to promote Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA).

Last week, India introduced that Australia will be part of the Malabar train subsequent month consisting of Japan and the U.S. The Ministry mentioned Mr. Esper welcomed Australia’s participation within the train Malabar 2020.

There has been a pointy enhance in India’s maritime interactions with the Quad international locations on a bilateral foundation centered round data sharing for improved Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) within the Indian Ocean Region and Indo-Pacific.

While LEMOA has since been operationalised, COMCASA is in superior phases of being operationalised. On September 25, for the primary time a U.S. Navy P-8A lengthy vary Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) landed at Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands for refuelling below LEMOA.

In July, frontline warships of the Indian Navy carried out a passage Exercise (PASSEX) with the US Navy’s Nimitz service strike group close to the A&N islands because it was transiting the Indian Ocean after finishing up Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOP) within the South China Sea.