India, US hold 20th edition of Military Cooperation Group meeting in Hawaii

The 20th edition of the India-US Military Cooperation Group (MCG) meeting was held on August 30-31 in Hawaii, US, with the discussions focusing on defence cooperation mechanisms between the two nations, the Defence Officials said.

The meeting was co-chaired from the Indian side by Lt Gen Johnson P. Mathew and Lt Gen Stephen D. Skelenka, Deputy Commander of American Indo-Pacific Command.

The discussions focused on new initiatives under the ambit of existing bilateral defence cooperation mechanisms & strengthening the ongoing India-US defence engagements, the Defence officials added.

"The senior leaders discussed opportunities for continued integration to strengthen interoperability and #Readiness to maintain peace and stability in the #FreeAndOpenIndoPacific," the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command posted on X (formerly known as Twitter).

According to the official readout of the 20th U.S.-India Military Cooperation Group the 20th MCG aimed at further strengthening military-to-military cooperation between India and the US in the Indo-Pacific Region and beyond.

"This year's engagement included senior leadership from U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) to facilitate holistic discussion about the Indian Ocean region," the readout said.

"The U.S. and India-amongst the oldest democracies and the largest democracy respectively in the world-face many of the same challenges in the region; the MCG forum has once again facilitated rich, strategic discussion about how to address those issues," said Sklenka.

"The pace and trajectory of this strategic partnership is remarkable and buttressed by our shared values, trust and mutual respect for the rule of law.