India, Russia to hold annual military cooperation talks
By IANSTuesday, October 5, 2010
NEW DELHI - Further expansion of bilateral military ties will be high on the agenda of the 10th annual meeting the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation here Thursday, an official said.
The meeting will be jointly chaired by Defence Minister A.K. Antony and his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov, and the focus will be on extending the existing bilateral agreement on military-technical cooperation, the official said Tuesday.
Serdyukov, who is arriving in India Wednesday, will be accompanied “by a large delegation of Russian defence ministry and industry representatives”, said the official.
The commission’s sessions are held annually and alternate between New Delhi and Moscow.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss regional and global security issues, according to the official.
Since the establishment of the India-Russia strategic partnership in 2000, the two nations have steadily developed and strengthened bilateral cooperation covering a range of areas, of which defence forms a significant component.
They share a multifaceted military technical cooperation that includes not only supply of defence equipment and systems but also collaboration in research and development and production.
The two countries, at the last meeting of the commission in Moscow, committed to military cooperation until 2020 which comprises about 200 joint projects, including the modernisation of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier that the Indian Navy has purchased, the transfer of technology for the licensed production of T-90 tanks in India, the production of BrahMos missiles and the purchase of Smerch MLRS by India.
