India, Belgium deepen defence-industrial ties with new MoUs, contracts

The two sides agreed to expand defence dialogue, high-level visits, training and capacity-building while exploring deeper industrial cooperation using Belgian technology and Indian scale

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Belgium’s Minister of Defence and Foreign Trade Theo Francken met in New Delhi on Thursday to review bilateral defence and industrial cooperation.

 

Some agreements on defence-industrial cooperation — details of which were not immediately shared by the Ministry of Defence — were signed during the meeting.

 

Singh said in a post on X that multiple memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and contracts had been signed “towards leveraging Belgian technology together with Indian skill and scale”.

 

The two sides agreed to expand bilateral ties through defence-cooperation dialogue, high-level visits, training and capacity-building, according to a media statement issued by the ministry.

 

 

They also discussed regional peace and security and “acknowledged the need for maritime security collaboration in the Indo-Pacific”, the statement added.

 

Francken is part of a visiting delegation accompanying Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever during his India visit from September 2-4.