Rajnath Singh, Argentine counterpart hold talks

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held talks with his visiting Argentine counterpart Jorge Enrique Taiana here on Tuesday, including on the ongoing defence cooperation initiatives, including measures to enhance the defence industrial partnership.

The Argentine Defence Minister also visited BrahMos Aerospace and is scheduled to interact with leading think-tanks in Delhi. He will also travel to Bengaluru and visit the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) facilities and separately interact with the defence start-ups in an event organised by Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), a Defence Ministry official added.

According to the Defence Ministry, India-Argentina relations were elevated to the level of Strategic Partnership in 2019. An MoU on defence cooperation too has been in force since 2019 while both sides are engaged to conclude further instruments to deepen the engagement.

India and Argentina are working closely together to make defence engagements an important facet of their Strategic Partnership.

Earlier in the day, the Argentine Minister visited the National War Memorial and laid a wreath to pay homage to the fallen heroes. He was also accorded a tri-service Guard of Honour before the talks.

Taiana arrived in New Delhi on July 17 on a four-day visit. He is accompanied by Secretary, International Affairs, in Ministry of Defence, Francisco Cafiero.