Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that a large country like India cannot restrict its defence cooperation to a few countries. "Efforts should be made to expand it continuously," he said while addressing the third Defence Attaches Conference here.
He also said that the government has introduced a new scheme to promote defence exports through Defence Attaches to their respective countries. Under this scheme, funds have been allocated for export promotion to 34 countries.
Rajnath Singh hoped that the Defence Attaches will use this fund "judiciously to promote defence exports".
He also said that the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) have also opened offices for their liaison officers in countries like Vietnam, Singapore, Myanmar, Oman and others.
"An export promotion and investor cell has been set up under the Department of Defence Production to facilitate Indian companies' efforts for exports," the minister said.
About DefExpo 2020 and opportunities provided by it, he said: "With the establishment of two industrial corridors in the states of Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, it is expected that this will increase defence manufacturing and exports."
He also said that there is a lot of scope for Defence Attaches to work and attract Foreign Direct Investment in these corridors. "India has also offered several defence Line of Credits (LOC) to friendly countries to allow Indian defence exports and increase their presence in the global market," the minister added.
On the threats in the Indian Ocean and the Indo-Pacific region, Rajnath Singh said: "We need to be more focused to secure our interests. We have adopted pro-active measures to promote peace and stability in the region as well as to increase defence and security cooperation with the Indian Ocean rim countries so as to create a stable maritime environment."
He also said that terror and its related violence have posed serious challenge to the international security environment and the inter-play between state and non-state actors as proxies to spread violence have further increased the threat.
He said the continued presence of terrorist infrastructure and state support to terrorists in the neighbouring country has tested India's patience. "However, as a responsible and powerful nation, India had displayed that it was able to disrupt and deter the activities of terrorist groups and their patrons," he added.
( With inputs from IANS )