NEW DELHI: The 2+2 strategic dialogue, which was deferred earlier this month, is expected to take place in September, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.

"The 2+2 dialogue with the US is to happen in the first week of September. The agenda will be to develop and strengthen strategic defence cooperation and to follow-on with what had transpired during the meeting with US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis," Sitharaman told reporters.

As ET reported on July 7, US secretary of defence James Mattis wrote to defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman assuring her that Washington’s decision to call off the 2+2 dialogue at the last minute was not aimed at signalling a lower priority to the Indo-US relationship.

Soon after Mattis’s letter, the US formally moved a proposal to hold the 2+2 dialogue in India in early September. The necessary coordination between the State Department and Pentagon on this count has already begun.

Mattis also conveyed to Sitharaman in his letter that the “trajectory of the strategic partnership” remained unaffected, and that the sudden cancellation of the dialogue was not linked to India.