India and Israel on Thursday resolved to further strengthen their defence and strategic ties during the talks between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his counterpart Benjamin Gantz here. The two sides also adopted a ‘vision statement’ to expand their defence and military co-operation.
Besides reviewing regional security scenario and the situation in Ukraine and the Gulf region, the two ministers also deliberated on the co-development and co-production of military equipment in sync with growing India-Israel strategic ties.
Israel has emerged as one of the major defence equipment exporters to India since diplomatic ties were established between the two nations 30 years ago.
Rajnath described the meeting with Gantz as "warm and productive." He said in a tweet "Discussed key issues pertaining to defence cooperation and global and regional scenarios during the bilateral meeting. We place great value on our Strategic Partnership with Israel,"
"Glad that both the countries adopted a 'Vison Statement' which will pave the way for defence cooperation in future. There is a broad consensus between both the countries on further strengthening the bilateral strategic and defence cooperation," he added.
Before the talks, Gantz paid tributes to India's fallen soldiers at the National War Memorial.
A statement by the defence ministry after the talks said a wide range of issues concerning bilateral, regional and defence industrial cooperation were discussed during the meeting.
The two Ministers reviewed the existing military-to-military activities which have increased despite the challenges due to COVID-19 pandemic. They discussed ways to increase cooperation in all domains with a focus on research and development in future technologies and defence co-production.
Both the Ministers acknowledged mutual security challenges and their convergences on a number of strategic and defence issues. They expressed commitment to work together to enhance cooperation in all forums.
With the intention to further strengthen the existing framework of the Indo-Israeli defence cooperation architecture, both sides adopted the India-Israel Vision on Defence Cooperation. A Letter of Intent on enhancing cooperation in the field of Futuristic Defence Technologies was also exchanged between the two Ministers.
The visiting minister reached New Delhi on Thursday morning. It was his first visit to India with an aim to strengthen the defence ties between the two countries. Defence cooperation has been one of the significant pillars of bilateral cooperation. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the formation of the official diplomatic ties between India and Israel.