The long-awaited Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement or BECA, which gives India access to classified geo-spatial data as well as critical information having significant military applications from the US, was signed today as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held the third edition of the 2+2 talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark T Esper, in New Delhi.
“We held comprehensive discussion on range of key issues: Inking of BECA with US significant move. Our military to military cooperation with US moving forward very well. We identified projects for joint development of defence equipment,” said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh after the high-level meeting held at Hyderabad House in the national capital.
BECA, which is the fourth and final “foundational” understanding the US has with India, will allow India to gain access to precision data and topographical images – on a real time basis – from United States military satellites. The signing of the long-negotiated defence pact comes in the backdrop of India”s tense border standoff with China in eastern Ladakh.
US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper, who is attending the high-level meeting along with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, is reported to have said that the growing defence and security partnership between India and the US will keep a check on the situation in the Indo-Pacific at a time when China is attempting to expand its economic and military clout in the region. The sensitive satellite and sensor data provided by the US under the agreement will allow India to keep a close watch on the movements of Chinese warships in the Indian Ocean.
“This year marks the 15th anniversary of the first U.S.-India Defense Framework and our third 2+2 Ministerial. We have strengthened our defense and security partnership considerably since then, especially over the past year, during which we advanced our regional security, military-to-military, and information-sharing cooperation. Our focus now must be on institutionalizing and regularizing our cooperation to meet the challenges of the day and uphold the principles of a free and open Indo-Pacific well into the future,” Mark Esper said.
This is the third edition of the 2+2 talks External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh are holding with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark T Esper.
The in-person talks are taking place at a time when India is locked in a tense standoff with China in eastern Ladakh and the Trump administration’s growing friction with Beijing over a host of issues including trade tariff and the Chinese military’s offensive manoeuvres in the South China Sea.
