U.S. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter arrived in Visakhapatnam today on a three-day visit to India.
This is Carter’s first visit to India as Defence Secretary of US. Carter had earlier visited India in September 2013 and July 2012 as Deputy Defence Secretary.
Carter played a key role in the India-US Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) and urged US to treat ans support 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, and so forth.
After visiting the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam, the Defence Secretary will fly to New Delhi later in the evening.
Carter will hold meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar tomorrow.