India, South Korea hold 'extremely fruitful' talks on defence cooperation

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and South Korean Minister of National Defense met on February 4 to participate in ministerial-level defence dialogue between India and Republic of Korea. Along with them, the meeting was also attended by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, Army Chief General MM Naravane, and Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh. 

The Defence Minister also said that the talks between the ministries were 'extremely fruitful' and were aimed at 'deepening of bilateral defence cooperation'. Earlier Jeong had received a guard of honour at the South Block lawns. Singh had visited South Korea in 2019 when the two countries had also signed two MoU's to enhance the corporation in defence. 

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Additional Defence Attaches Posts

While boosting India's defence diplomacy, Singh also announced on February 3 ten more Defence Attaches (Das) posts to be created in the Ministry. The government has introduced this new scheme for the promotion of defence exports through DAs in 34 different countries. According to the press release, Singh also hopes that the DA's will utilise the funds considerably to promote defence exports. 

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Rajnath Singh said while announcing the creation of 10 new Defence Wings for appointing 10 more Defence Attaches, "A large country like India cannot restrict its defence cooperation to a few countries. Efforts should be made to expand it continuously. This will further strengthen India's defence diplomacy.”

The Defence Minister has also said that the state-support to terrorism by a neighbouring country currently poses a serious challenge to India. He further added that these challenges have also revealed India's the capability to “disrupt and deter” the terror networks along with their patrons. 

Singh said, "The continued presence of terrorist infrastructure and state support to terrorists in the neighbouring country have tested India's patience”.

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(with inputs from agencies)