India and Indonesia on Monday reviewed the entire gamut of defence ties and steps to further strengthen relationships in the field of defence production and manufacturing. The talks between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and visiting Indonesian counterpart General Prabowo Subianto also focused on giving a boost to military-to-military relations between the two countries.
Giving details of the talks, defence ministry officials said the Indonesian minister is here to strengthen the ties between two maritime neighbours. Rajnath reiterated the long history of mutually beneficial interactions between the two countries with a tradition of close political dialogue, economic and trade linkages as well as cultural and people to people interactions.
Conveying satisfaction on the military to military interactions, Rajnath indicated that the defence cooperation between India and Indonesia has witnessed an upswing in the recent years, which is in consonance with the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two sides. Both the Ministers agreed to further enhance the bilateral defence cooperation in mutually agreed areas.
Potential areas of cooperation in the field of defence industries and defence technology were also identified by the two countries. Both the ministers committed themselves to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in these areas and take them to the next level of deliverables.
The meeting ended on a positive note with a commitment to further strengthen and widen the scope of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, Army Chief General M M Naravane, Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh, IAF chief R K S Bhadauria, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar and other senior civil and military officials also took part in the bilateral meeting.
General Subianto was given ceremonial Guard of Honour on the lawns of South Block when he arrived for the Defence Ministers’ Dialogue. He was personally received by Rajnath at the venue. Earlier, General Subianto visited the National War Memorial and laid a wreath as a mark of respect to the fallen heroes.