Context: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held the third edition of the 2+2 talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark T Esper. Both sides were assisted by top military and security officials. The Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) was signed during the dialogue. This allows both countries to share sensitive information regarding satellite and sensor data. Pompeo said after talks that the two countries had to work together to confront the threat China posed to security and freedom. 
About 2+2 ministerial dialogue

• It is a format of dialogue where the defense and foreign ministers or secretaries meet with their counterparts from another country.
• The 2+2 dialogue is the highest-level (Ministerial) institutional mechanism between India and the USA. It is aimed at bringing together the perspectives of both the countries on issues relating to foreign policy, defence and other strategic issues.
• India also holds such dialogues with Japan.
• With Australia, the 2+2 dialogue is held at the foreign secretary and defence secretary level.

Background

• India has already signed three foundational military communication agreements with the US. They are:
• The Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016.
• The Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) in 2018.
• General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) – GSOMIA, signed in 2002, paved the way for greater technology cooperation in the military sector.
• An extension to the GSOMIA, the Industrial Security Annex (ISA), was signed at the last 2+2 dialogue (2019).

Issues revolving around the meeting

• The Defence Minister of India and the U.S. Secretary of Defence reviewed bilateral defence cooperation spanning “military-to-military cooperation, secure communication systems and information sharing, defence trade and industrial issues”.
• Ways to take bilateral cooperation forward were also discussed.
• The meeting is important because the officials themselves come from US and the meeting was not conducted virtually. 
• Presidential election: The timing of the meeting just few days ahead of elections in U.S.A is also questionable. Trump administration is also known for its critique of the China. 
• Chinese issue: China’s aggression on Indian borders and expansionist policy in Indo-Pacific region is concern for both of the countries. 
• Afghanistan issue: U.S.A is keen to leave Afghanistan which threat to Indian interests in the war torn country. 
• Quad: The talks can also proceed as far as Quad is concerned. 
• BECA: Basic Exchange & cooperation Agreement (BECA), USA’s defence agreement, can be signed between both the countries. 

Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA)

• BECA is the last of four foundational agreements for strengthening defence ties between India and the US.
• The agreement pertains to exchange of Geospatial-Intelligence information for use by the governments for defence and other purposes.
• Under the agreement, the US would exchange technical and procedural information about standardisation of methods, specifications and formats for the collection, processing and production of geo-intelligence information with India.
• It shall also include the tools and models to process GPS data and transform Latitude, Longitude and Height coordinates across various reference frames and others.

How will it help India?

• It would enhance the geospatial cooperation between the countries.
• It will allow India and the US to share geospatial and satellite data with each other.
• It is likely to help in improving the accuracy of missile systems of India.
• BECA is an important precursor to India acquiring armed unmanned aerial vehicles such as the Predator-B from the US.

Road Ahead
The 2+2 dialogue is all about India and United States, there were no direct mention of China in joint declaration but the threat eminating out of China has been strongly noticed. Mentioned of the Indo-Pacific was very clear, both nations are very particular regarding open up of Indo- Pacific and also want to ensure freedom of navigation of the seas, BECA is just a part of much bigger strategic cooperations between the two nations and India enjoys bipartisan support in United States.