U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will be on a three-day visit to India from March 19-21, announced the Indian defense ministry, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
During his visit, Austin is expected to meet his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh, besides other senior dignitaries of the federal government.
Austin himself tweeted "I'll travel to India to meet with my counterpart, Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh, and other senior national security leaders to discuss deepening the U.S.-India Major Defense Partnership and advancing cooperation between our countries."
Both sides are expected to discuss ways to further strengthen bilateral defense cooperation and exchange views on regional security challenges and common interests.
Discussions regarding defense cooperation would also focus on how both countries could consolidate military-to-military cooperation and defense trade and industry cooperation.