India, US agree to cement defense ties during New Delhi meeting

NEW DELHI, June 5 (KUNA) -- India and the US agreed on Monday to cement their defense relationship after holding extensive talks on security issues.
The Indian Defense Ministry said in a statement that its minister Rajnath Singh held bilateral meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin who arrived in New Delhi yesterday on a two-day official visit.
Both the ministers discussed several bilateral defense cooperation issues with special focus on ways to strengthen industrial cooperation.
"The two ministers' explored ways of building resilient supply chains. Both sides will identify opportunities for co-development of new technologies and co-production of existing and new systems and facilitate increased collaboration between defense start-up ecosystems of the two countries," the ministry said.
It also added that both the countries concluded a roadmap for US-India Defense Industrial Cooperation which will give a clear policy direction in the defense sector for the next few years.
"Both sides reviewed the robust and multifaceted bilateral defense cooperation activities and agreed to maintain the momentum of engagement. They welcomed the inaugural dialogues held recently focusing on Defense Artificial Intelligence and Defense Space," the statement said.
Peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and other regional security issues were also taken up during the discussion.
In the meeting Indian Chief of Defense Staff General Anil Chauhan, Defense Secretary Giridhar Aramane and Secretary, Department of Defense R&D and Chairman Defense Research and Development Organization Samir V Kamat were also present. The visit of US Secretary of Defense assumes importance as India and the US are firming up their regional security understanding especially through QUAD and other multinational bodies which China suspects is aimed at countering its increasing regional and global influence. (end) atk.gta