NEW DELHI: With an upswing in ties with the US, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said the India-US defence relationship has evolved into a strategic partnership and the two sides are in agreement on matters such as China’s aggression and a free and open Indo-Pacific.
In his opening remarks during a bilateral meeting with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, Rajanth Singh said, “The India-US defence relationship is characterized by mutual trust, shared values, and a growing recognition of common interests in maintaining regional and global security. We increasingly find ourselves in agreement on strategic issues, including countering China’s aggression, promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific and addressing regional security challenges.”
He said India and the US share a focus on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region and recognize the criticality of safeguarding vital sea lanes and promoting stability. “Our teams are working on substantive outcomes,” said Rajnath. There has been caution among the neighboring countries against the aggressive and arbitrary approach of China on maritime and territorial issues.
Talking of expanding the scope of collaboration, Rajnath Singh said strategic convergence should guide the two countries to new domains. “We are charting new pathways of cooperation by pursuing stronger defence, industrial engagement, easing of technology restrictions, resilient supply chains in all domains, and maritime security,” he said. The bilateral meeting was held on the sidelines of the 2+2 meeting between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin.
Among the wide-ranging defence and strategic issues discussed between the two Ministers, “there was a particular focus on enhancing defence industrial cooperation and getting the defence industries from both sides together to cooperatively co-develop and co-produce defence systems,” said the Ministry of Defence in a statement.
The Ministers explored ways to advance their defence technology cooperation with joint research in critical areas. “They reviewed the progress of the India-US Defence Industrial Ecosystem, INDUS-X, which was launched in June this year and aims to expand the strategic technology partnership and defence industrial cooperation between the governments, businesses and academic institutions of India and the US,” the defence ministry said.