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| Afghanistan-Pak-India |
| Indo-US war games push |
| 2005-11-25 |
| Rumsfeld reiterated at this meeting that the F-16I variant, built for Israel was on offer to India as well as the Patriot PAC3 system India and the US will increase the tempo of military-to-military exercises and boost supplies of hardware to the Indian armed forces, a meeting of the apex body governing India-US defence relations has decided, reports our special correspondent. Defence ministry sources said today after the seventh meeting of the India-US Defence Policy Group that âboth sides emphasised the importance of service-to-service tiesâ. The Defence Policy Group (DPG) is co-chaired by Indian defence secretary Shekhar Dutt and the US undersecretary of defence for policy, Eric S. Edelman. The meeting was held in Washington from November 21 to 23. The latest edition of the DPG â that meets at least once a year to review relations and chart a programme for future exchanges â also included âan intensive exchange of views on the international strategic and security situation and on the further development of bilateral defence cooperationâ under the defence framework agreement signed in June this year. This was the first meeting of the DPG under the Framework Agreement on Defence Cooperation signed during defence minister Pranab Mukherjeeâs visit to Washington on June 28. The agreement was criticised by the Left in India which alleged that India was dovetailing its strategic interests with those of the US. A defence ministry statement issued here today said India and the US âview their bilateral defence cooperation as an important facet of the India-US global partnershipâ. The DPG was presented the reports of its four sub-groups on military cooperation, joint technology, senior security technology and defence procurement and production. The DPG noted that the joint exercises carried out this year were successful. It reviewed the Cope India 2005 air force exercises involving USAF F-16 fighter aircraft in Kalaikunda earlier this month. Defence ministry sources said the DPG meeting also included a policy-level dialogue on the global strategic and security situation. Defence secretary Dutt had meetings with US secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld, undersecretary of defence Lenneth Krieg and US deputy national security adviser J.D. Crouch |
| Posted by:john |