Reiterating India’s commitment towards Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership with Russia, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday spotlighted new opportunities for enhancing participation of Russian industries in the ‘Make in India’ projects while voicing New Delhi’s determination to extend the capabilities of its domestic defence industry across domains and industrial collaboration.
Singh met with Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov in Moscow and co-chaired the 21st session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC).
He stressed that India-Russian relations are "very strong" and have fulfilled the expectations of a special and privileged strategic partnership and further strengthened in recent times with exchanges including two visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Russia during 2024.
"Had a very productive IRIGC-M&MTC meeting with my Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov in Moscow". Discussing the entire gamut of bilateral defense ties, we deliberated on the ways to further deepen cooperation between the two countries. We are committed to further strengthening India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership," he posted on X after the meeting.
Belousov said that Russia and India enjoy a very strong, time-honoured friendship based on mutual respect. The trusting relations of the leaders of the two states play a key role in strengthening bilateral ties.
"We are always glad to see Indian colleagues in Russia," said the Russian Defence Minister. The results of the meetings of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of the Republic of India Narendra Modi in July in Moscow and in October at the BRICS summit in Kazan served to deepen the particularly privileged strategic partnership, to include in the defence sphere. We are committed to implement all the agreements reached at the highest level," he added.
Belousov also welcomed Singh on the commissioning of INS Tushil and added that the operationalisation of Military Technical Cooperation agreement for 2021-31 will give necessary impetus to 'Make in India' initiative.
During their talks, the two sides discussed in detail topical issues of bilateral cooperation in the military and military-technical spheres. The Russian Defence Minister pointed to the "good level" of Indian-Russian military cooperation in multilateral formats, including within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and ADMM-Plus format.
"I am confident that our meeting will help to strengthen Russian-Indian relations in the field of defence and security," said Belousov. Prior to this, the Indian delegation was greeted at the Russian Defence Ministry in Central Moscow as Singh inspected a Guard of Honour. Defence Minister Singh also laid a wreath at 'The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier' in Moscow to honour the memory of the Soviet soldiers killed during the Second World War.
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