New Delhi, September 5: The issues like India buying Russian missile defence systems and Iranian oil export to India are not likely to take centre stage in the ‘two plus two’ dialogue which is going to be held in New Delhi on September 6. The United States Secretary Mike Pompeo in his interaction with media while travelling to Ireland hinted that these two issues would not be the main focus of the dialogue with India. Pompeo said, “They will certainly come up, but I don’t think they’ll be the primary focus of what it is we are trying to accomplish here.” The US secretary further added that these decisions are important but they see no intentions in solving them.

Earlier reports surfaced in the media that India would take up issues of signing S-400 Triumf missile deal with Russia and also the import of oil from Iran. Apart from these two issues, both the countries are likely to discuss Issues like enhancing trade, effectively dealing with terrorism and India's concerns over the Trump administration's decision to make changes in the H1B visa programme are also expected to figure prominently in the talks, they said. Under the new framework finalised last year, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold talks with the US Secretary of State Mike R Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis. Pompeo will arrive in India today after his visit to Islamabad.

India is likely to seek a waiver from the Trump administration for the mega-deal of procuring advanced air defence system from Russia. In July, The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation which would allow the United States president to waive penalties against certain countries that purchase weapons from sanctioned Russian defence companies. U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis sought the waiver especially for countries like India and Vietnam.

Earlier, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had taken a dig at the Combating America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). She said that it was it is an American law and not a UN law. The CAATSA was enacted by the US to punish Russia for meddling in 2016 presidential elections. The law also threatens sanctions against third countries for having any security and intelligence relations with Russia.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 05, 2018 09:26 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).