India, US to sign new 10-year defence framework later this year
India and the United States agreed to sign a new 10-year defence partnership framework when Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his American counterpart Pete Hegseth will meet later this year, the Pentagon on Wednesday.
The decision was finalised during a telephonic conversation between the two on Tuesday, with both sides reviewing the “considerable progress” made in bilateral defence cooperation since the joint statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump in February, the statement added.
“Hegseth emphasized the priority the United States places on India as its key defence partner in South Asia,” the statement added.
While the US Department of Defense did not elaborate on specific details, the statement added that the two sides “discussed pending major US defence sales to India”.
India’s defence ministry said that during the call, Singh and Hegseth discussed a broad range of defence cooperation issues, including training, military exchanges and expanding defence industry collaboration.
Singh appreciated the “unwavering support extended by US to India for its fight against terrorism”, the defence ministry said.
The statement came on a day when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said ahead of Quad foreign ministers’ meeting in Washington DC that the world must “display zero tolerance” on terrorism.
“Victims and perpetrators must never be equated,” Jaishankar had said. “And India has every right to defend its...
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