Article Posted on : - Aug 28, 2019

NEW DELHI (PTI): Indian and US officials explored ways to further strengthen bilateral maritime security cooperation at a high-level meeting in California.

The two sides held fourth round of the India-US Maritime Security Dialogue in Monterey on August 23.

"The two sides discussed regional maritime security issues and exchanged views on ways to further strengthen bilateral maritime security cooperation," the external affairs ministry said.

"They also reviewed implementation of the decisions taken during the earlier three rounds of maritime security dialogue," it said.

Maritime cooperation between India and the US is on an upswing.

The US has been pushing for a greater role for India in the Indo-Pacific which is seen by many countries as an effort to contain China's growing clout in the region.

In November 2017, India, the US, Australia and Japan gave shape to the long-pending "Quad" Coalition to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence.

The next round of the dialogue will be held in India.

The Indian delegation was led by Indra Mani Pandey, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs and Richa Misra, Joint Secretary (Navy) in the Ministry of Defence.

Ambassador Alice Wells, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, and Randall Schriver, Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, led the US delegation.