Rajnath Singh to Hold Meetings With US & German Counterparts in Delhi

NEW DELHI: A bilateral meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will take place in New Delhi during the visits of US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and German Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius, the Ministry of Defence announced on Saturday.

On June 5, Rajnath Singh will meet with the US Secretary of Defence; the next day, on June 6, he will speak with the German Federal Minister of Defence. During the two sessions, a wide range of bilateral defence cooperation issues with a focus on industrial cooperation are likely to be covered.

In advance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's travel to Washington, Austin will fly in on Sunday for a two-day visit from Singapore to discuss ways to strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership. The first time was in March 2021, making this his second trip to India.

A number of new defence cooperation projects are expected to be announced following Modi's discussions with US President Joe Biden in Washington, DC, more than two weeks from now, according to sources informed with Austin's visit who told the media that Singh and the US defence secretary will discuss them.

“China's aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region as well as along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and ways to combat the threat of terrorism are likely to figure in the talks between Singh and Austin on Monday,” they said.

The German minister will visit India for four days starting on Monday. He is going to come from Indonesia. During an event hosted by Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) in New Delhi, Pistorius is scheduled to meet with a few defence start-ups in addition to his meeting with the defence minister. He is scheduled to arrive in Mumbai on June 7 and is expected to pay visits to Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Western Naval Command, and Headquarters.

In recent years, there has been an improvement in India-US defence and strategic ties. Key defence and security agreements between the two nations have been inked in recent years, including as the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016 that permits their militaries to use one another's bases for maintenance and resupply.

2018 saw the two parties also sign the COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement), which enables military cooperation between the two nations and the transfer of advanced American technology to India.

BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement) was signed by India and the US in October 2020 to strengthen their existing defence cooperation. The agreement enables the two nations to exchange cutting-edge military technologies, logistics, and geospatial mapping.

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