External Affairs Minister Smt. Sushma Swaraj will host U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in New Delhi from July 30 to August 1, 2014.
Swaraj and Secretary Kerry will co-chair the fifth India-US Strategic Dialogue on July 31, an MEA release said.
This will be Secretary Kerry's first visit to India since the inception of the new Government and his first meeting with EAM since the two leaders assumed office.
During this visit, Secretary Kerry is expected to meet Indian leaders, including a call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Secretary Kerry will also visit Bangalore.
During the strategic dialogue, Swaraj and Kerry will exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.
On the bilateral side, their focus will be on expanding cooperation in areas of security, trade and investment, science and technology, energy and environment and human services. The two sides will also have useful deliberations on multilateral issues of common interest.
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Secretary Kerry will be accompanied by a high-level inter-agency delegation with representatives from the Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, Department of State amongst others. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, Deputy Secretary of Department of Energy Daniel Poneman, Under Secretary of Department of Homeland Security Francis X. Taylor and Special Envoy for Climate Change in Department of State Todd Stern will be part of the delegation.
India and the United States launched the ministerial-level strategic Dialogue in July 2009, focusing on five pillars of mutual interest, namely: Strategic Cooperation; Energy and Climate Change, Education and Development; Economy, Trade and Agriculture; Science and Technology, Health and Innovation.
The first Strategic Dialogue was held in Washington in June 2010, followed by successive rounds in New Delhi (July 2011), Washington (June 2012) and New Delhi (June 2013).