Visiting U.S. Under Secretary of State Uzra Zeya met Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Monday to discuss cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as regional issues and “civilian security” or protecting civil rights.
Significantly, Ms. Zeya also met Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West), External Affairs Ministry, who is expected to travel to Ukraine later this week.
Ms. Zeya, who met with the Dalai Lama on Sunday, is due to meet civil society organisations and human rights, free speech and minority rights activists during her visit to Delhi, which ends on Tuesday.
“Grateful for the vital U.S.-India partnership & shared efforts to advance a free & open Indo-Pacific, regional stability, and civilian security,” Ms. Zeya, the U.S. Under Secretary for civil security, human rights and democracy, said in a tweet, describing her meeting with Mr. Kwatra.
“Thanks for your continued partnership addressing global & regional challenges. U.S.-India cooperation is essential to our most vital priorities & a more peaceful and prosperous world,” she said after meeting Mr. Verma.
Mr. Verma will head the most senior Indian delegation to visit Ukraine since the war began in February 2022 and is expected to meet Ukrainian Ministers and officials during a visit to Kyiv on July 13 and 14.
Neither side gave further details of the conversations Ms. Uzra held, and whether she raised issues over civilian security and human rights within India.
Ms. Zeya is visiting India and Bangladesh on a week-long trip that follows two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington.
The visiting U.S. delegation included U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu and USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator Anjali Kaur. They will leave for Dhaka on Tuesday.
