Defence Minister Rajnath Singh can pay a four-day go to to Italy and France starting Monday to increase bilateral strategic engagement and discover industrial cooperation for joint improvement of army {hardware}.
Within the first leg of his two-nation tour, Singh will journey to Rome the place he’ll maintain wide-ranging talks together with his Italian counterpart Guido Crisetto, in keeping with the defence ministry. The connection between India and Italy was elevated to the extent of strategic partnership in March through the Italian prime minister’s go to to India.
“Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will go to Italy and France from October 9 to 12, ” the ministry stated.
In Paris, Singh will attend the fifth annual India-France defence dialogue together with his French counterpart Sebastian Lecornu.
“India and France just lately celebrated 25 years of strategic partnership. Each international locations get pleasure from a deep and wide-ranging bilateral defence relationship, together with vital industrial cooperation,” the defence ministry stated in a press release.
“In each Rome and Paris, the defence minister may also work together with the defence trade CEOs and senior representatives to debate potential alternatives for industrial cooperation,” it stated.
Officers stated the potential for joint improvement of army platforms will probably be a part of Singh’s discussions each in Rome and Paris.
In the meantime, Eric Trappier, the chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, is about to go to New Delhi this week to debate numerous features of India’s proposed buy of 26 naval variants of the Rafale plane, individuals acquainted with the matter stated.
They stated Trappier arrives in Delhi on Monday on a two-day journey to carry preliminary negotiations on the procurement. Nonetheless, there is no such thing as a official announcement on the go to by Dassault Aviation.
The defence and strategic ties between India and France have been on an upswing in the previous few years.
In July, India and France introduced a raft of ground-breaking defence cooperation tasks together with the joint improvement of jet and helicopter engines and building of three Scorpene submarines for the Indian Navy.
The 2 strategic companions additionally expressed dedication to cooperate within the co-development and co-production of superior defence applied sciences, together with for the good thing about third international locations.
