US and India agreed to identify new mutually convenient dates to hold the dialogue at the earliest

New Delhi: The United States has postponed the high-level "2+2 dialogue" it was meant to hold with India next week in Washington.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and expressed regret over the dialogue postponement, foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

They agreed to identify new mutually convenient dates to hold the Dialogue at the earliest, in India or the US, he added.

Ms Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were to hold talks with their American counterparts Mike Pompeo and James Mattis next week which experts hoped would have helped change the current narrative surrounding the bilateral relationship amid economic and trade issues.

Mr Pompeo and Mr Mattis were to host Ms Swaraj and Ms Sitharaman in Washington DC for the maiden India-US 2+2 Dialogue, the format of which was agreed between the two sides during the White House meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump in June last year.

The 2+2 dialogue was to be the biggest engagement of the year between the two countries.