India on Tuesday invited Italy to participate in the defence sector under the “Make in India” scheme. The invitation was extended during the high level discussions between visiting Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which also included mutual agreement to counter terrorist financing and state sponsors of terrorism.
“India invited Italian defence equipment manufacturing companies to invest in India under the Make-in-India initiative and to collaborate with Indian companies for design and construction of defence equipment” said a Joint Statement issued at the conclusion of the visit by the Prime Minister of Italy.
Both sides held the 9th Military Group Meeting earlier in October in which they agreed on cooperation in 2019. Tuesday’s announcement was the first time when they agreed on broad defence production since the Augusta Westland case exploded on the national scene in 2013. India’s Scorpene submarine project has suffered due to the controversy, which left the submarines without the Black Shark torpedoes.
Prime Minister Conte’s visit is the first since he took charge in June 2018 and is dealing with an economic downturn in Italy.
Mr Conte also indicated Italy’s support to India’s quest for membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group underlined Rome’s support to India’s membership in the global technology export groups.
The visiting side also joined India in condemning terrorism and state sponsors of terrorism. In a clear reference to Pakistani support to developments in Kashmir, the Joint Statement said, “They condemned all kinds of State support to terrorists including cross border terrorism and providing safe havens to terrorists and their network,”
Italy also joined India in demanding the UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy, UNSC Resolution 1267 and other other UN resolutions regarding prevention of terrorism and terror financing. This is significant especially as Pakistan last week conveyed that terror groups like Jamaat ud Dawa are no longer in the list of forbidden organisations in the country. India blames JuD of 2008 Mumbai attacks.
(With inputs from Dinakar Peri)