New Delhi: Terming it as a pillar of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the both countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday acknowledged that India and Russia are reorienting military and military-technical cooperation to joint research and development, co-development and co-production of advanced defence technology and systems.
The partnership which has grown from strength to strength through several decades of joint efforts and fruitful cooperation is steered by India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC), the 22nd meeting of which took place at New Delhi’s Manekshaw Centre on Thursday, jointly chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Andrei Belousov.
During their meeting on Friday, PM Modi and Putin welcomed the outcomes of the IRIGC-M&MTC session and expressed their satisfaction with regular military contacts, including the meeting of Defence Ministers in Qingdao in June 2025 on the sidelines of the SCO Member-States’ Defence Ministers’ Meeting.
“Both sides also agreed to encourage joint manufacturing in India of spare parts, components, aggregates and other products for maintenance of Russian origin arms and defence equipment under Make-in-India programme through transfer of technology and setting up of joint ventures for meeting the needs of the Indian Armed Forces as well as subsequent export to mutually friendly third countries,” read the Joint Statement issued following the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit.
India and Russia also appreciated the Joint Military Exercises Indra of the armed forces and reaffirmed their commitment to maintain the momentum of joint military cooperation activities and expand military delegation exchanges.
“Today’s 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit was an opportunity to comprehensively discuss diverse aspects of India-Russia cooperation. We have agreed on an Economic Cooperation Programme till 2030 in order to diversify our trade and investment linkages. We talked about improving connectivity, enhancing relations in shipbuilding, skills, energy, critical minerals and much more,” PM Modi posted on X after the meeting.
On Thursday, during his meeting with Belousov, Singh voiced the Indian government’s determination for capacity building of its indigenous defence industry for both local production and exports, under the vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. He also stressed on new opportunities for enhancing collaboration between both counties across niche technologies.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the visiting Russian Defence Minister emphasised on deepening the relationship between both countries which he said is based on mutual trust. He highlighted that both countries are united by many years of friendship and strategic cooperation. He also stated that the Russian defence industry is ready to support India towards becoming self-reliant in the field of defence production.
(IANS)
