WASHINGTON, Dec 8:
India and the US are global partners in defence and regional security, a top American commander has said, as Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman toured the headquarters of the strategic Indo-Pacific command in Hawaii before concluding her maiden visit to America.
Sitharaman described her US visit as part of her endeavour to “take forward the bilateral defence cooperation”.
Noting that the India-US relationship in defence has acquired the dimensions of a strategic partnership over the last decade, she said that the two countries have made considerable progress.
Sitharaman capped off her trip with a visit to Hawaii – the headquarters of what early this year was rechristened as US Indo-Pacific Command.
The US calls Asia Pacific as Indo-Pacific. It has renamed Pacific Command as Indo-Pacific Command or INDOPACOM.
“Our two democratic nations are committed to upholding a rules-based international order which has brought decades of peace, stability and prosperity. We are global partners on defence and security, and this exemplifies our mutual cooperation to assure a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said US INDOPACOM Commander Admiral Phil Davidson.
US INDOPACOM, at the conclusion of Sitharaman’s visit, said that this partnership was a reflection of the increasing strategic importance of the US-India security relationship and the progress both countries have made in advancing their defence cooperation.
The scope for mutual coordination and collaboration in the Indo-Pacific region continues to grow. Air forces of India and the US are currently conducting a 12-day military exercise in Kalaikunda and Panagarh air bases in West Bengal, with an aim to enhance operational coordination, Indian officials said.
The ‘Ex Cope India-18’ will be the fourth edition to the series of bilateral drills between the Indian Air Force and the US Air Force.
Meeting her American counterpart Defence Secretary James Mattis at the Pentagon, Sitharaman said the recent high-level meetings are an indication of the depth and quality of “our bilateral partnership, as well as our mutual desire” to work closely on a range of bilateral and global issues.
While no announcements were made with regard to shifting of F-16 production base to India or deals in armed drones, officials privy to the high-level talks said: “US is leaning a way forward” in meeting India’s needs and aspirations in the defence sector and is taking steps that would help it achieve its strategic goals.
There is a “mutual desire to move positively and quickly” in the defence relationship, Sitharaman told reporters at the Pentagon on Monday, which was also her only media interaction during the visit.
In one month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met US Vice President Mike Pence and then President Donald Trump, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in a trilateral meeting wherein Indo-Pacific and regional peace was a discussed.
Earler this year, Mattis had also met Modi.
Sitharaman, India’s first woman defence minister, was accorded a red-carpet welcome during her maiden visit to the US in this capacity wherein she was given a rare look-in and briefing into the various aspects of US armed forces, defence industry and the ecosystem that the US has developed over the last few decades involving the military, strategic thinking community, research and industrial base.
In San Francisco – the hub of innovation and starts-ups – Sitharaman and her delegation was given an insight into the American defence research set-up and the best defence practices that can be adopted by India.
The current situation in the Indo-Pacific region was the topic of focus during Sitharaman’s meetings with US leaders, besides which a wide range of issues was covered, including the situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan, recent developments in Sri Lanka, Maldives and quick co-ordination between the two powerful armies for peace purposes, officials said. (PTI)
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