Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that increasing cooperation between India and the US will be important to accessing global economies and maintaining peace and security.
Addressing a press conference after India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, he said that India and the US discussed their assessments of the Indian Ocean region.
"Today's defence bilateral and 2+2 meeting between India and the US is very important to strengthen the strategic defence engagement. This meeting will make us more capable to work in areas of mutual interest. Our increasing cooperation will be important to accessing global economies and maintaining peace and security," the Defence Minister said.
He underlined that the world's two biggest democracies--India and the US-- share the same views on almost all global issues including terrorism and maritime security.
"Both our nations are common and complementary; we have shared goals to achieve. It's great that the world's two biggest democracies share the same views on almost all world issues... During the meeting, we discussed our assessments of the Indian Ocean region and its neighbours."
The Defence Minister thanked the Secretaries and delegation for great interaction and appreciated their commitment to the bilateral relations between the two countries.
"I'd like to thank Secretaries and delegation for a great interaction and appreciate their commitment to our bilateral relations. We had a meaningful talk today; it'll help in maintaining and expanding India-US momentum," Singh said after India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue.
The Defence Minister said that India's Department of Space and the US' Department of Defence have finished a "Space Situational Awareness" agreement (SSA).
"We also talked about terrorism being used as an instrument of statecraft against India. India's Department of Space and the US's Department of Defence have finished "Space Situational Awareness" agreement (SSA)," he said, adding that despite the pandemic, our military exercises have increased.
"We are glad that India has joined the Bahrain-situated Multilateral Combined Maritime Force as an associate partner; this will strengthen the Regional Security Cooperation in the western Indian Ocean," Rajnath said further.
He also informed that India also progressed in the implementation of COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement) and effective operationalization of BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement).
The Defence Minister added that an agreement on Defence Space and Defence Artificial Intelligence dialogues has been reached.
"Many other initiatives and agreements which are in the discussion phase have been agreed to be expanded for progress in the scope and depth of our military engagements," he said.
He informed that India and the US also discussed further cooperation in the defence cyber and special forces field; including LEMOA (Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement). "Both the parties are confident in moving forward toward the close agreement on special op forces."
US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held today at Washington.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today held a virtual meeting with United States President Joe Biden wherein both the leaders had an extensive exchange of views on several regional and global issues, such as the Ukraine situation, the Indo-Pacific region.
( With inputs from ANI )
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