M Modi meets US Defence Secretary in Singapore

Singapore, June 2 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis in Singapore, days after the Pentagon renamed its Pacific Command as Indo-Pacific Command in a largely symbolic move to signal India’s importance to the US military.
Modi, who is here on the last leg of his three-nation tour, held a closed-door meeting with Mattis during which both sides discussed all security related issues of mutual and global interests, sources said. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue which was addressed by the Prime Minister last night.In his keynote address at the Dialogue, Modi had said an “Asia of rivalry” will hold the region back while an Asia of cooperation will shape the current century. Asia and the world will have a better future when India and China work together with trust and confidence while being sensitive to each other’s interests, he had said.
“We should all have equal access as a right under international law to the use of common spaces on sea and in the air that would require freedom of navigation, unimpeded commerce and peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law,” he had said. Mattis also addressed the dialogue where he stressed upon freedom for all and “reaffirmation for rule based order”.