Sitharaman asks defence attaches to help build stronger ties

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday addressed a meeting of Indias Defence Attaches to enhance their role in implementation of the country's defence cooperation and engagement with foreign countries.

She outlined India's interest in building stronger military-to-military cooperation, training and capacity building as well as cooperation on defence industry and technology with the country's partners.

She encouraged the attaches to play a more pro-active role in this process, highlighting India's views and positions on the evolving regional and global security scenario as well as its rapid economic, technical and military advancements.

India has Resident Defence Attaches in 44 countries, accredited to a total of 95 countries.

An official release said Sitharaman complimented their efforts to expand and strengthen India's defence engagement in bilateral, regional and multilateral frameworks.

Referring to the efforts to expand defence manufacturing in India under Prime Minister's Make in India initiative, she also stressed the need for DAs to engage effectively with all stakeholders in the defence sector, including Defense Public Sector Undertakings as well as private industry, to expand broader defence cooperation linkages.

--IANS

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