NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday held bilateral talks with his Greek counterpart, Nikolaos-Georgios Dendias, during which the two sides signed a Joint Declaration of Intent to strengthen defence industrial cooperation and agreed to chart a five-year roadmap for collaboration.
The declaration aims to expand cooperation between India’s indigenous defence manufacturing ecosystem under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative and Greece’s defence modernisation programme under its Agenda 2030 reforms. It will serve as a framework for joint research and development, co-production, technology partnerships and broader industrial collaboration.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence, the Ministers also discussed regional and global security issues, noting the deepening defence relationship and broader strategic ties between India and Greece. The two countries elevated their relationship to a strategic partnership in 2023.
In addition, the two sides exchanged a Bilateral Military Cooperation Plan for 2026, outlining planned military engagements, training exchanges, institutional interactions and other forms of cooperation between their armed forces.
The engagement comes amid India’s expanding defence and strategic outreach to Europe. Last month, India and the European Union signed a Security and Defence Partnership on the sidelines of the 16th India-EU Summit in New Delhi. During a meeting with European Commission Vice-President Kaja Kallas, Mr Singh said India’s defence industry could play a “meaningful role” in the EU’s ReArm initiative, as the bloc seeks to diversify defence suppliers and strengthen its industrial base.
The partnership is viewed as part of New Delhi’s effort to integrate into emerging European defence supply chains at a time when the EU is accelerating defence production.
During the visit, the Hellenic delegation toured defence and industrial facilities in Bengaluru and interacted with officials from defence public sector undertakings and private industry, including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL). The delegation received briefings on India’s defence manufacturing ecosystem and ongoing indigenous programmes in aerospace, electronics and missile systems.
Reflecting growing strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific and the Mediterranean, Greece said it would position an International Liaison Officer at India’s Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in Gurugram. The move follows a similar proposal by the European Union to enhance maritime coordination and threat assessment.