Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with German Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius in New Delhi on June 06, 2023. Both Ministers reviewed the ongoing bilateral defence cooperation activities and explored ways to enhance the collaboration, particularly defence industrial partnership.
The Raksha Mantri highlighted the opportunities that have opened up in the defence production sector, including the possibilities for German investments in the two Defence Industrial Corridors in Uttar Pradesh & Tamil Nadu. The Indian defence industry could participate in the supply chains of German defence industry and add value to the ecosystem, besides contributing to supply chain resilience.
Rajnath Singh stressed that India and Germany could build a more symbiotic relationship based on shared goals and complementarity of strength, namely skilled workforce & competitive costs from India and high technologies & investment from Germany.
India and Germany have a Strategic Partnership since 2000, which is being strengthened through Inter-Governmental Consultations since 2011 at the level of Heads of Government.
Senior officials from Ministry of Defence, including Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, participated in the delegation-level meeting. From the German side, State Secretary from Ministry of Defence Mr Benedikt Zimmer, apart from senior officials and the German Ambassador to India, were present. This is the first visit of a German Defence Minister to India since 2015.
The bilateral meeting was preceded by a Tri-Service Guard of Honour to the visiting dignitary. Later in the day, Mr Boris Pistorius will interact with some Indian defence start-ups at IIT Delhi, in an event organised by Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX).
The German Federal Minister of Defence arrived in India on June 05 on a four-day visit. On June 07, he will be traveling to Mumbai, where he is scheduled to visit the Headquarters, Western Naval Command and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited.