Visit of us Secretary of Defence to India
Leading a high level delegation, the US Secretary of Defence Dr Ashton Carter will arrive in Visakhapatnam shortly today on a 3 day visit to the country. This would be Dr Carters first visit to India as Secretary of Defence. He had earlier visited India in September 2013 and July 2012 as Deputy Secretary of Defence. As Deputy Secretary, Dr Carter was the main architect of the India-US Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) and advocated support for treating India at the same level as their closest partner in terms of extent and level of technology transfer, co-development, co-production and collaborative ventures, expedited approval process for licenses, etc.
Dr Carter after visiting Visakhapatnam based Eastern Naval Command will reach New Delhi this evening. Tomorrow, in addition to meeting with Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar, he would also be meeting the National Security Advisor and the External Affairs Minister. He would also call on the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
Prior to coming to India, Secretary Carter attended the Shangri La Dialogue-2015 on Asian Security organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in Singapore from 29-31 May 2015.
NAO/DM/NM
