United States Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter who is on a three-day visit in India, met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today. Both Carter and Parriker signed the 2015 Framework Agreement on India-US defence relationship.
The renewed framework agreement enables both the nations to engage in areas of key strategic discussions, more exchange programmes between the armed forces of the two countries, and also strengthening the core defence cooperation.
Both India and the United States have finalized two project agreements for the joint development of Mobile Electric Hybrid Power Sources and the Next Generation Protective Ensembles. Defence Minister Parrikar and Secretary Carter agreed to speed up decisions regarding the cooperation in the field of jet engines, aircraft carrier design and other avenues. The meeting also emphasised on opening up the doors to American defence industries under the ‘Make in India’ initiative where both US and Indian defence industries can cooperate in production of sophisticated and new-age defence equipments and technologies.
Earlier in the day, Defence Secretary Carter met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to discuss cooperation in bilateral issues.