US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter in India, to meet Modi

New Delhi, June 2 (IANS): Leading a high-level delegation, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter arrived in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday on a three-day visit to India.

In Visakhapatnam, Carter visited the Eastern Naval Command. He was scheduled to arrive in Delhi later in the day and was likely to call upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

He will also meet Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

This is Carter’s first visit to India as secretary of defense.

He had earlier visited India in September 2013 and July 2012 as deputy secretary of defense when he was the main architect of the India-US Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) and advocated support for treating India at par with the closest partners of the US in terms of technology transfer, collaborative ventures and expedited-approval process for licences.