PM Modi met US Secretary of Defence James Mattis at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore

The meeting comes days after the US renamed its oldest and largest military command - the Pacific Command - to Indo-Pacific Command, amid heightened tensions with China over the militarisation of the South China Sea

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today met US Defence Secretary James Mattis in Singapore and discussed security related issues, days after the Pentagon renamed its Pacific Command as the 'Indo-Pacific Command' in a largely symbolic move to signal India's importance to the US military.

Prime Minister Modi, who is in Singapore on the last leg of his three-nation visit, held a closed-door meeting with Mr Mattis during which both sides discussed all security related issues of mutual and global interests, sources said.

In 2016, India and the US had signed a crucial logistics defence pact enabling their militaries to use each other's assets and bases for repair and replenishment of supplies, making joint operations more efficient.

Soon after coming to power, the Trump administration had renamed Asia Pacific as Indo-Pacific and identified India as one bookend of the region.