Rajnath, Austin hold talks
New Delhi, March 18
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today had a telephonic conversation with US counterpart Lloyd Austin. Both briefly discussed a range of bilateral, regional security and defence cooperation issues. They reviewed the recent bilateral events such as the ‘INDUS-X’ Summit held in New Delhi in February and the bilateral tri-service exercise ‘Tiger Triumph’, which commenced in India today.
“The US Secretary of Defense appreciated the important role being played by the Indian Navy in conducting anti-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean Region,” a statement of the Indian Ministry of Defence said today. The two ministers discussed ways and means to implement the India-US Defence Cooperation Roadmap, which was concluded last year. Other defence industrial cooperation issues such as repair of US naval ships in Indian shipyards were also briefly discussed. Both ministers had last met in New Delhi in November 2023 during the India-US Ministerial 2+2 Dialogue.
