PremiumRajnath Singh invited African countries to explore Indian defence equipment and technologies, saying that India has emerged as a leading defence exporter in recent years.
New Delhi: The India-Africa Defence Dialogue (IADD) was held on the sidelines of DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on Tuesday, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
The dialogue successfully brought out various aspects of the IADD’s theme ‘Adopting Strategy for Synergizing and Strengthening Defence and Security Cooperation’.
Delivering the keynote address, defence minister Rajnath Singh defined the theme of IADD as the underlying commitment of India and African countries to explore new areas of convergence for defence engagements, including capacity building, training, cyber security, maritime security and counter terrorism.
The minister termed India & African countries as important stakeholders in ensuring a safe and secure maritime environment, especially in the Indian Ocean Region.
He pointed out that the two sides work together in many regional mechanisms, which foster inclusive and constructive collaboration in dealing with shared security concerns and address common challenges to peace and prosperity.
Emphasising that India & Africa share a multi-faceted defence and security cooperation relationship, Rajnath Singh reiterated India’s support to Africa to deal with challenges of conflict, terrorism and violent extremism.
“India remains united with African countries in their quest for peace, security, stability, growth and prosperity. Our partnership with Africa is centered on the ten guiding principles articulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to Parliament of Uganda in 2018. He had clearly stated that Africa will be at the top of our priorities. We will continue to intensify and deepen our engagements with Africa. Apart from the goals of developmental, commercial and technological partnerships that India wants to forge with African nations, the statement also covered cooperation in strengthening capabilities in combating terrorism and extremism, supporting UN peacekeeping missions and work for open and free oceans," he said.
The minister described the Indo-African ties as multi-faceted covering economic, diplomatic and defence domains. He highlighted that India and Africa share a robust partnership, which is based on the cooperative framework of ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region), drawn upon the ancient ethos of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (The World is One Family).
Rajnath Singh invited African countries to explore Indian defence equipment and technologies, saying that India has emerged as a leading defence exporter in recent years.
“Peace, security and development are inter-related. Security is essential for enabling development in the region. We have created a robust public and private defence industry. A defence manufacturing ecosystem has been created in India which has the advantage of abundant technical manpower. Our defence industry can work with you to fulfil your defence requirements," he told his African counterparts.
50 African countries, including 20 Defence Ministers, seven CDS/Service Chiefs and eight Permanent Secretaries participated in the dialogue attesting the high priority accorded to India-Africa engagement in defence and security.
On the sidelines of the IADD, minister Rajnath Singh and MoS Defence Ajay Bhatt met with the visiting African Ministers where issues related to defence and bilateral relations were discussed.
The IADD, as a part of DefExpo 2022, showcased to the African nations the growing prowess of the domestic defence industry, which is one of the major drivers of the nation’s resolve to achieve ‘Make in India, Make for the World’ as envisioned by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This interaction is expected to help fulfilling the Defence requirements of our African partners as also achieving the objective of catering to our domestic requirements.