India, US to further strengthen defence ties

Published: Nov 24, 2005
Source: www.expressindia.com



Washington, November 24: India and the United States agreed to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation and emphasised the importance of service-to- service ties at the meeting of the Defence Policy Group (DPG), which concluded here today.

The three-day meeting of the DPG, held in an "extremely frank, friendly and co-operative atmosphere," was co-chaired by Indian defence secretary Shekhar Dutt and under secretary of defence for policy Eric Edelman.

The two sides exchanged views on the international strategic and security situation and on the further development of bilateral defence cooperation as envisaged under the Indo-US Defence Framework agreement, inked in June this year.

"Both countries view their bilateral defence cooperation as an important facet of the India-US global partnership, reflected in the India-US Joint Statement of July 18, 2005," a statement issued at the end of the seventh round of talks said.continue..