US Secretary Of State Antony Blinken To Travel To India On 1 March To Participate In G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting

Washington, Feb 24 (PTI) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to India next week to attend the meeting of G20 foreign ministers and meet senior Indian officials to reaffirm America’s strong partnership with the country.

India has taken over the Presidency of the G20 on December 1, last year.

On March 1, Blinken will travel to New Delhi to participate in the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which will focus on strengthening multilateralism and deepening cooperation on food and energy security, sustainable development, counter-narcotics, global health, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and gender equality and women's empowerment, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said on Thursday.

“He (Blinken) will meet with Indian government officials and civil society to reaffirm our strong partnership,” Price said.

The US Secretary of State would be in India till March 3.

Blinken will reach India after his trip to two Central Asian nations – Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan – beginning February 28.

On February 28, he will visit Astana, Kazakhstan, where he will meet with senior Kazakh officials to deepen bilateral cooperation.

He then will participate in a C5+1 Ministerial with representatives of each of the five Central Asian states, to reaffirm the United States’ commitment to the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Central Asian countries, and to collaborate with the region on solutions to shared global challenges, he said.

The C5+1 Ministerial will focus on enhancing economic, energy and environmental, and security cooperation among the United States, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The Secretary will meet separately on the margins of the C5+1 ministerial with senior government officials from the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan to discuss opportunities for bilateral and multilateral cooperation and advance our shared goal of a prosperous, secure, and democratic region.

“He will then travel to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where he will meet with Uzbekistani officials to further advance our partnership on a range of bilateral and regional issues,” Price said.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without any modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)