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India and Namibia held the fifth round of Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) and agreed to deepen collaboration in key sectors, including health, Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), agriculture, defence, and critical minerals.According to a release by the Ministry of External Affairs, the meeting was held on January 19 and January 20 and was co-chaired by Janesh Kain, Joint Secretary (East & Southern Africa), Ministry of External Affairs and Ambassador Charles Josob, Acting Head of Department for Bilateral Relations and Cooperation, Ministry of International Relations and Trade, Namibia.During the consultations, both sides reviewed the full spectrum of India-Namibia relations, covering trade, investment, health and pharmaceuticals, education, capacity building, agriculture, infrastructure development, consular matters, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges."Both sides agreed to further deepen bilateral ties in key areas such as health, Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI),
Operation Sindoor forced Pakistan to carry out constitutional amendments, which is an acknowledgement that everything did not go well for the neighbouring nation, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan said on Friday. Talking about the progress of the proposed joint theatre commands in India, Chauhan said the Union government has granted an extension for completing the exercise till May 30, 2026, but the armed forces are working to put the structure in place well before the deadline. Calling it one of his key responsibilities, General Chauhan said the process is now in its final stages. Addressing the Pune Public Policy Festival, the CDS said Operation Sindoor is only on pause. "The changes which have been brought about in Pakistan, including the constitutional amendment done hurriedly, are actually an acknowledgement of the fact that everything didn't go well for them in this operation. They found a lot of shortcomings and deficiencies," said Gem Chauhan. This entire ...
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said Uttar Pradesh has emerged as a major hub of defence manufacturing, with investments of over Rs 34,000 crore already made across six nodes of the state's defence corridor, marking a decisive shift towards India's self-reliance in weapons and ammunition production. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating Ashok Leyland's state-of-the-art electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing plant here, Singh said India is no longer dependent on other countries for weapons, missiles or defence equipment, as these are now being manufactured domestically, including in Uttar Pradesh. He said the defence corridor, spread across Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi, Agra, Aligarh and Chitrakoot, is producing arms, ammunition and equipment related to fighter aircraft, with large companies setting up manufacturing units in the state. "I have been told that investments worth around Rs 34,000 crore have been made in these defence corridor nodes," Singh said. Referring to the Ut
Japan's Cabinet on Friday approved a record defence budget plan exceeding 9 trillion yen (USD 58 billion) for the coming year, aiming to fortify its strike-back capability and coastal defence with cruise missiles and unmanned arsenals as tensions rise in the region. The draft budget for fiscal 2026 beginning April is up 9.4 per cent from 2025 and marks the fourth year of Japan's ongoing five-year programme to double annual arms spending to 2 per cent of gross domestic product. The increase comes as Japan faces elevated tension from China. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November that her country's military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing says must come under its rule. Takaichi's government, under US pressure for a military increase, pledged to achieve the 2 per cent target by March, two years earlier than planned. Japan also plans to revise the ongoing security and defence policy by December 2026 t