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| Rajnath holds talks with Malaysian counterpart; focus on boosting industrial cooperation | | |  agencies
NEW DELHI, July 10: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday held wide-ranging talks with his Malaysian counterpart Mohamad Hasan with a focus on boosting overall defence and strategic partnership in line with "trust" and shared values of "democracy and rule of law". Singh, currently on a three-day visit to Malaysia, also called on Prime Minister Anwar bin Ibrahim and conveyed to him PM Narendra Modi's warm greetings. The talks between the two defence ministers in Kuala Lumpur were primarily focused on ways to strengthen industrial cooperation, officials said. Singh and Hasan also approved an amendment in the memorandum of understanding on India-Malaysia defence cooperation signed in 1993. The defence ministry said that the amendment will act as an "enabler" to expand bilateral defence cooperation in the areas of mutual interest.
"Had an excellent meeting with the Defence Minister of Malaysia, Mohamad Hasan in Kuala Lumpur today," Singh tweeted.
"We reviewed the diverse pillars of the extensive bilateral defence engagement and discussed the roadmap for the 4th Decade of India-Malaysia Defence Cooperation," he said.
The resolve by both sides to expand the bilateral defence ties came amid concerns over China's increasing forays into the Indian Ocean region.
"Both sides discussed initiatives to further expand bilateral defence ties, with particular focus on identifying ways to strengthen industrial cooperation," the defence ministry said in a statement here.
Malaysia is among a handful of countries showing keen interest in procuring India's indigenously developed Tejas aircraft.
Tejas is a single-engine multi-role fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments.
"They (the ministers) reaffirmed their commitment to fully implement the enhanced strategic partnership based on mutual trust and understanding, common interests and shared values of democracy and rule of law," the statement said.
In the talks, Singh highlighted the potential of the Indian defence industry with capacity and capability to cooperate with Malaysian Armed forces in its inventory modernisation and maintenance plans.
Separately, Singh also held talks with Malaysian Foreign Minister Zambry Abd Kadir during which they exchanged views on matters of bilateral importance and cooperation in international fora.
"India's recognition of ASEAN centrality and importance of peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo Pacific region were discussed," the ministry said.
"The meeting concluded with India's assurance to partner Malaysia in its efforts to accelerate self-reliance of the Malaysian defence industry," it said. In his meeting with Prime Minister Ibrahim, Singh conveyed to him warm greetings of PM Modi. "Recalling his successful visit to India in 2019, the Malaysian prime minister reciprocated the greetings by highlighting that he has great love for people of India and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is his personal friend," the defence ministry said in its statement. It said the Malaysian prime minister expressed appreciation of the strong cultural bonds between both nations. "Deeply appreciate his positive approach and interest towards further deepening India-Malaysia bilateral relations," Singh said on Twitter about his meeting with PM Ibrahim.
The ministry said Singh briefed Ibrahim about the fruitful and productive defence dialogue between the two countries. "The meeting focused on measures to realise the full potential of enhanced strategic partnership," it said.
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