India, Russia commit to upgrade, intensify defence cooperation

India and Russia on Thursday reiterated their commitment to upgrade and intensify bilateral military cooperation through joint manufacture, co-production and co-development of hardware and spares.

Announcing the St. Petersburg Declaration after delegation talks here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin also acknowledged the increasing reliance on the adoption and sharing of future technologies, in compliance with the obligations of the sides under the existing agreements on military-technical cooperation.

"We will work towards a qualitatively higher level of military-to-military cooperation. We will continue holding regular joint land and sea military exercises, and training in each others' military institutions. This year will see the first ever Tri-services exercise INDRA-2017," both leaders said.

Both also said they saw ample opportunities for bilateral cooperation in space research, with a view to using relevant technologies for the benefit of society.

Acknowledging that both India and Russia have a shared commitment in preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), President Putin said, "Russia is convinced that India's participation in multilateral export control regimes will contribute to their enhancement. In this context, Russia welcomes India's applications for the membership in Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement and reiterates its strong support for India's earliest admission to these export control regimes."

Both said that the two governments recognize the necessity to activate bilateral interaction on the basis of the Indian-Russian Intergovernmental Agreement on cooperation in the field of security in the use of information and communication technologies.

It was also agreed that steps would be taken to contribute to further developing bilateral contact in the sphere of culture and sports, education, science and technology, climate change, environmental protection, clean energy, cyber security, affordable health care and marine biology etc.