Rajnath invites Russian industry to ‘make in India’

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today said the government was determined to expand capabilities of domestic industry and invited Russian industries to join the ‘Make in India’ projects.

Rajnath Singh was in Moscow for the 21st session of India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military & Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC). After the meeting, he called on Russian President Vladimir Putin at Kremlin. The meeting lasted an hour, sources said.

Earlier, Rajnath had co-chaired the IRIGC-M&MTC meeting with his counterpart Andrey Belousov. The Ministry of Defence described the meeting saying “Rajnath Singh voiced the Government of India’s determination to extend the capabilities of its domestic defence industry across domains and industrial collaboration.”

Rajnath Singh stressed on new opportunities to enhance participation of Russian industries in ‘Make in India’ projects, the MoD said. India and Russia have a Military Technical Cooperation Agreement for 2021-31 that aims to give necessary impetus to ‘Make in India’.

Rajnath Singh said, “The India-Russia relationship is very strong and has lived up to the responsibilities of a special and privileged strategic partnership.” He cited the recent exchanges including two visits of PM Narendra Modi to Russia during July and October.