NEW DELHI: India and USA are looking to schedule their maiden 2+2 (Foreign and Defence Minister) dialogue in Washington in early July after Mike Pompeo takes charge as the new secretary of state following his confirmation by the US senate, sources in the know told ET.

The Indian delegation will have foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and defence minister Nirmala Seetharaman. “We have a very strong relationship with Prime Minister Modi’s government. We have strong, strong people-to-people ties with the Indian population, and so, I know when we get a chance to schedule something on that – I know we’re looking at the Secretary’s schedule right now to see what he has on his plate and what we’re going to schedule in the near future,” Heather Nauert, spokesperson US State Department, told media persons in Washington on Thursday.

A former CIA director, Pompeo was sworn in as the US Secretary of State this month. The dialogue was scheduled on April 18-19 but postponed after President Donald Trump appointed a new secretary of state removing Rex Tillerson. ET had first reported that the meet is being rescheduled in July. Nauert also expressed US disappointment with Pakistan for the status of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, mastermind of 2008 Mumbai attacks.

“…have to share with you about that in terms of the Mumbai attacks – we’ve addressed this on numerous occasions from this podium here, and those would be our concerns about the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks. And he’s a Lashkar-e-Taiba guy who was being held in Pakistan, and he was eventually let out on house arrest, and we have a reward out for – I believe it’s for his arrest – not information leading to his arrest, but his arrest. I don’t recall off the top of my head the award amount, but that person out in open is a tremendous concern to the United States.”