MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th June, 2023) Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday he had discussed strengthening cooperation in several areas during a meeting with his counterpart from the United States, Lloyd Austin.
"Delighted to meet my friend, (Secretary of Defense) Austin in New Delhi. Our talks revolved around enhancing defense cooperation in several areas including convergence of strategic interests and enhanced security cooperation," Singh twitted.
The ministers discussed joint development and production of existing and new systems, and increasing cooperation between the two countries' defense start-up ecosystems, according to the Indian Defense Ministry.
"The two sides discussed a substantial range of bilateral defense cooperation issues, with particular focus on identifying ways to strengthen industrial cooperation ... Both sides will identify opportunities for co-development of new technologies and co-production of existing & new systems and facilitate increased collaboration between defense start-up ecosystems of the two countries," the ministry's statement read.
Singh said that India's partnership with the US is crucial for ensuring free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific region.
"We look forward to closely work with the US across the domains for capacity building and further consolidating our strategic partnership," the minister said in a tweet.
Last week, the Indian Defense Ministry announced that Singh would discuss a number of issues of bilateral partnership in defense with a focus on industrial cooperation with his US and German counterparts.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistoruis' visit to India is due to start on Monday.
