New Delhi (VNA) - India and Singapore have held the first dialogue between their defence ministers as they agreed to enhance the scale and complexity of existing bilateral military interaction, India’s PTI news agency reported.
The first Defence Ministers' Dialogue between India’s Manohar Parrikar and his Singaporean counterpart Ng Eng Hen on June 3 marked bilateral defence cooperation raised to the highest level.
"We had very detailed discussions. We have agreed on expanding the interaction between the armed forces and defence R&D and industry participation under (the) 'Make in India' (initiative)," Parrikar told reporters after the dialogue.
"We have agreed (that the) scope and complexity of the interaction between the armed forces would be further enhanced," he said.
A joint statement issued after the meeting said both ministers committed to enhance the scale and complexity of existing bilateral exercises between the militaries.
The minister emphasised the importance of international cooperation in tackling transnational security threats.
In particular, both ministers strongly condemned terrorism, and renewed their commitment to cooperation in counterterrorism efforts besides emphasising the importance of safeguarding maritime security in international waterways, said the statement.
Freedom of navigation in international waterways has emerged as a concern for many countries recently.-VNA
