Rajnath to visit Egypt, Jaishankar to meet Blinken in Washington

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be visiting Egypt while External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be in the United States of America starting Sunday to foster a strong relationship with the respective countries and also participate in various bilateral and plurilateral engagements.

Starting tomorrow, Singh will be on a three-day official visit to Egypt during which he will hold bilateral talks with Egyptian Minister of Defence and Defence Production General Mohamed Zaki.

The two ministers will review the bilateral defence ties, explore new initiatives to intensify military-to-military engagements and focus on deepening cooperation between the defence industries of the two countries. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide further impetus to enhanced defence cooperation between India and Egypt will also be signed.

The Indian Defence Minister will also call on the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to further consolidate defence cooperation and the special friendship between the two countries.

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar will be visiting the United States of America from September 18-28.

During the first leg of his visit (September 18-24), Jaishankar will be leading the India delegation for the High-Level Week at the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. The theme of 77th UNGA is ‘A Watershed Moment: Transformative Solutions to Interlocking Challenges’.

In keeping with India’s strong commitment to reformed multilateralism, EAM will be hosting a ministerial meeting of the G4 (India, Brazil, Japan, Germany), as well as participating at the High-Level Meeting of the L.69 Group on ‘Reinvigorating Multilateralism and Achieving Comprehensive Reform of the UN Security Council’. The L.69 Group consists of developing countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Small Island Developing States, focused on reforms of the UN Security Council.

To commemorate and showcase Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Jaishankar would be addressing a special event ‘India@75: Showcasing India UN Partnership in Action’ on September 24, which would highlight India’s development journey and its contributions to South-South Cooperation. The event is expected to be addressed by the President of the 77th UNGA, along with the foreign ministers of several member states, and the UNDP Administrator.

The EAM would also be participating in plurilateral meetings of the Quad, IBSA, BRICS, India – Presidency Pro Tempore CELAC, India-CARICOM and other trilateral formats, such as India-France-Australia, India-France-UAE and India-Indonesia-Australia. He will also have bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of the G20 and UNSC member states, amongst others.

Jaishankar’s address at the High-Level Session of the 77th United Nations General Assembly is scheduled for the forenoon of September 24. During the visit, he will also be meeting with the UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the 77th PGA Csaba Korosi.

Upon completion of the 77th UNGA-related engagements, the EAM will visit Washington from September 25-28 for bilateral meetings with US interlocutors. His programme includes inter alia, discussions with his counterpart Secretary of State Antony Blinken; senior members of the US Administration, and US business leaders, a round-table focused on S&T and interaction with the Indian Diaspora.

“EAM’s visit would enable a high-level review of the multifaceted bilateral agenda and strengthen cooperation on regional and global issues to further consolidate the India-US strategic partnership,” the External Affairs ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

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