India, US take steps to boost defence co-operation

The contact person from the Indian side will be the Secretary, Department of Defence Production and the United States will be represented by the Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Licensing at the Pentagon.

This decision was taken at the delegation level talks between the Defence Minister Arun Jaitley and the visiting US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel, who is on a three day visit to the country.

In the meeting, both sides took note of the progress made over the years in deepening defence ties. Both the sides reaffirmed their desire to further enhance bilateral defence cooperation, especially in technology and discussed ways for strengthening this partnership.

Stressing on indigenization of the Defence industries, Jaitley said, “The development of our own indigenous capabilities is a major objective that guides our present policies. In this direction, we have taken steps to raise the FDI cap in the defence sector. We look forward to work closely with the US in this regard”.

The two sides also decided to take steps for the extension of the New Framework for the United States – India Defence relationship, well before it expires in July 2015.

Secretary Hagel also laid a wreath at Amar Jawan Jyoti. He was presented an Inter-Services Guard of Honour in the forecourt of South Block, this afternoon, when he arrived for the talks.

Hagel invited Jaitley to visit the Pentagon, the Headquarters of the United States Department of Defence, in October during the latter’s visit to Washington DC to attend the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.

Jaitley has accepted the invitation.

Apart from his meeting with Jaitley, Secretary Hagel also called upon the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Earlier in the day, Secretary Hagel met the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.