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India and Morocco on Monday inked an agreement to boost military cooperation following talks between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Moroccan counterpart Abdeltif Loudiyi. Singh is currently on a visit to Morocco. "Had a very productive meeting with Morocco's Defence Minister Mr. Abdeltif Loudiyi and we signed an MoU on cooperation in field of defence," he said on 'X'. The MoU will provide for an institutional framework to expand and deepen bilateral defence engagement, including exchanges, training, and industrial linkages, officials said. "India's ties with Morocco are growing remarkably over the years. We discussed ways to deepen collaboration in key areas, including counter-terrorism efforts, maritime security, cyber defence and capacity building," Singh added. Singh's visit to Morocco is the first-ever trip to that country by an Indian defence minister. Ties between India and Morocco have gained momentum since King Mohammed VI's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Mo
Amid rising competitive populism and economic protectionism around the world, India needs to project its hard power alongside its soft power, said Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh on Friday. Singh was speaking at the Southern Command Defence Tech 2025 seminar (STRIDE 2025) here. Addressing the gathering, Singh said the trend of increasing globalisation and free trade has been brought to a halt by geopolitical factors linked to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Europe and the rise of populist leadership patterns across the globe. These trends are causing competitive populism and economic protectionism around the world, accompanied by economic fragmentation, the decline of multilateral institutions, and a growing tide of nationalism. As a result, the need to back a soft power with hard power is becoming more and more critical at a time when strategic deal-making requires you to be able to project hard power as well, said Singh. He also said there is a need to bring ..
Security forces have launched a search operation after around half-a-dozen drones from Pakistan were sighted hovering over several forward areas along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Monday. The movement of the drones from across the border was picked up over Balakote, Langote and Gursai nallah in Mendhar sector at 9.15 pm on Sunday, the officials said. They said the drones, believed to be launched for surveillance, were seen flying very high and returned to the Pakistani side within five minutes. However, the area was cordoned off and a search was launched with the first light of the day in several areas where the movement of the drones was picked up to ensure that there was no air dropping of weapons or narcotics, the officials said. The use of drones by Pakistan to drop weapons and narcotics has emerged as a major challenge for the security agencies over the past couple of years and accordingly, police have announced a reward