Rajnath Singh, the Defense Minister of India held a meeting with his Italian counterpart, Guido Crosetto in Rome, Italy and signed an agreement of Defense Cooperation between the two countries.
The four days official visit :
The Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is on a four day official visit from October 9th to October 12th, 2023 to Italy and France. On X ( formerly Twitter ), he stated that he was looking forward to deepening the wide – ranging bilateral defense relationship, including significant industrial cooperation, with the nations of Italy and France.
In the first leg of Rajnath Singh’s two – nation visit, his schedule included meeting Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto in Rome. The second and final leg of the official visit includes for the Defense Minister to conduct the 5th Annual Defense Dialogue along with his French counterpart, Sebastian Lecornu, the Minister of Armed Forces, in Paris, France.
“ A warm and productive meeting…” :
On Tuesday, October 10, 2023, the Indian Defense Minister stated in a post on X ( formerly Twitter ) that he had a “warm and productive meeting” with his Italian counterpart Guido Crosetto in Rome. He also said that he held talks and discussions on issues and aspects of defense cooperation, as well as maritime security, information sharing and training. He further added that a Defense Cooperation Agreement was signed between India and Italy and that he looked forward to consolidating the defense partnership between the two countries.
The relationship between India – Italy and India – France :
India and Italy have a cordial relationship. A conventionally regular exchange of visits and meets between the two nations is quite common at official and political levels.
When the Italian Prime Minister visited India in March 2023, the relationship between the two nations was elevated to a Strategic Partnership.
25 years of Strategic Partnership were recently celebrated between the nations of India and France.
Rajnath Singh’s visit to the nation of France comes at a time when India is looking and contemplating to buy 26 Rafale M fighters from France for the Indian Navy.
The Defense Minister will also reportedly interact and conduct discussions with the senior representatives and CEOs of the defense industry in order to discuss and contemplate potential opportunities for industrial cooperation in both Rome and Paris.
