India, Israel ink major defence pact

New Delhi, Oct 4 (PTI) India and Israel on Tuesday signed a defence pact that will facilitate sharing of advanced technologies and promote co-development and co-production of key weapon systems and military hardware, in a major move to further bolster their already robust strategic ties.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in Tel Aviv following a meeting of India-Israel joint working group (JWG) on defence cooperation.

The MoU on defence cooperation was signed to provide a "unified vision and policy direction to deepen the already strong defence cooperation between the two countries," the defence ministry said.

"India-Israel defence partnership is long-standing based on deep mutual trust and shared security interests," it said.

The ministry said a wide range of areas for cooperation have been identified in the MoU that will benefit both countries.

"Important fields include strategic dialogues of mutual interest, training, defence industrial cooperation, and capabilities including science and technology, research and development and technological innovation, artificial intelligence and cyber security cooperation," the ministry said in a readout.

"The MoU will enable the sharing of advanced technology and would promote co-development and co-production," it said.

The JWG reviewed the ongoing defence cooperation initiatives and agreed that both the nations have benefited from each other's strengths, the ministry said.

"The two sides discussed the potential areas for future collaboration in the field of technology as well as enhancing operational capabilities," it said.

"They also deliberated on various issues, including shared challenges of terrorism and underscored their collective resolve to fight against the threat," it said. ZMN