The Third India-US two plus two Ministerial Dialogue is underway at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
From the Indian side, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar are leading the delegation.
Today Shri Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Raksha Mantri had a bilateral meeting with Secretary of Defence of the US Dr. Mark T. Esper in South Block, New Delhi. The two ministers reviewed bilateral defence cooperation spanning military to military cooperation, secure communication systems and information sharing, defence trade and industrial issues and also discussed ways to take bilateral cooperation forward.
Both the Ministers expressed satisfaction at the close engagements between the respective Armed Forces. They discussed potential new areas of cooperation, both at Service to Service level and at the joint level. They called for continuation of existing defence dialogue mechanisms during the pandemic, at all levels, particularly the Military Cooperation Group (MCG). They also discussed requirements of expanding deployments of liaison officers.
The two ministers expressed satisfaction that the agreement of BECA will be signed during the visit. US Secretary of Defence welcomed Australia’s participation in the exercise MALABAR 2020.
Hon’ble Raksha Mantri elaborated upon the initiatives under the ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT to encourage investments in the defence industry in India and invited US companies to make avail of the liberalized policies and the favorable Defence Industry ecosystem in India.
