India, Morocco sign pact to deepen defence cooperation

India and Morocco today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation.

It provides for an institutional framework for collaboration in defence industry, joint exercises, military training and capacity-building.

The MoU was inked in the North-African country at meeting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had with his Moroccan counterpart Abdeltif Loudiyi in Rabat. Singh is on a two-day visit to Morocco.

Both leaders decided to intensify defence industry collaboration and agreed on a comprehensive roadmap covering counter-terrorism, maritime security, cyber defence, peacekeeping operations, military medicine and expert exchanges.

To give momentum to these initiatives, the minister announced opening of a new defence wing at the Embassy of India in Rabat. He also highlighted the maturity of India’s defence industry and its cutting-edge capabilities, including drone and counter-drone technologies, assuring the Moroccan side that Indian companies are well-positioned to meet the requirements of Morocco’s defence forces.

Both ministers underscored the importance of enhancing exchanges between armed forces, facilitating training programmes and exploring opportunities for co-development and co-production in the defence sector.

Earlier, Singh interacted with the Indian community in Rabat and reaffirmed that the armed forces were fully prepared and were given complete freedom to respond after the cowardly attack on innocent Indians in Pahalgam in April.

India’s actions were measured and non-escalatory, he said.

On India multidimensional progress in the last decade under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Singh said India has emerged as the fastest-growing major economy, rising from the 11th to the fourth largest in the world, and is poised to enter the top three soon.