Edited by Deepali Verma
The Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is presently on an official visit to Great Britain. This visit marks the primary visit by a sitting Indian Defence Minister to the UK in more than 20 years.
In the beginning of the day, Defence Minister Singh and his British counterpart Grant Shapps attended the India-UK Defence Industry CEOs Roundtable at the Trinity House in London.
“Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh and his British counterpart Mr. @grantshapps were in attendance during the India-UK Defence Industry CEOs Roundtable at Trinity House in London,” a post on the Defence Minister’s official handle on ‘X’ read.
The UK, vocal of its plans, aims to send its Littoral Response Group to the Indian Ocean Region later this year, with a proposal for the Carrier Strike Group to visit the Bharatiya waters in 2025. Both the operation and the training will be conducted with Indian forces.
The announcement was made public by UK Defence Secretary Shapps.
The UK and Bharat further vowed to continue strengthening ties during the Defence Minister visit to the country.
This move signals the growing importance of the strategic relationship between the UK and Bharat, Defence Secretary Shapps welcomed Singh to the UK and the two leaders nodded on unprecedented levels of UK-Bharat defence cooperation, as per the official release.
The two nations continued the discussion of additional future cooperation in defence from joint exercises to knowledge sharing and instructor exchanges. These steps build on the comprehensive strategic partnership envisaged in the 2030 India-UK roadmap, announced in 2021, it added.
In the coming years, the UK and Bharat also aspire to embark on more complex and collaborative exercises between their respective militaries, building up to a landmark joint exercise to be conducted before the end of 2030, supporting shared goals of protecting critical trade routes and upholding the international rules-based system, according to the release.
Defence Secretary Shapps remarked, “There is no question that the world is becoming increasingly contested, so it’s vital that we must build on our strategic relationships with important partners like Bharat. We have the same security threats and are eager on our commitment to maintaining a free and prosperous Indo-Pacific.”
He affirms that “this relationship is going from strength-to-strength, but we must continue to work in collaboration to uphold global security in light of threats and challenges that seek to destabilise and damage us”.
“Collaborative efforts to maintain strategic defence partnership between the UK and Bharat is critical and the two nations are working together on electric propulsion systems that will power our future fleets and cooperating on the development of complex weapons,” a quote from Shapps’ address.
The UK and Bharat also confirmed a number of new joint initiatives which includes a Letter of Arrangement that will facilitate further emphasis to be placed on research and development among the two nations, to focus on next-generation capabilities.
They also look forward to cementing an agreement on logistics exchange, permitting for the provision of logistic support, supplies and services between the United Kingdom and Indian Armed Forces, for joint training, joint exercises, authorised port visits and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.
Defence Minister Singh on January 9 said both Bharat and the UK desire strong strategic relations and are working towards that.
“Both Bharat and the UK are in favour of strong strategic relations while simultaneously strengthening the comprehensive strategic relations,” Singh said.
Also, on January 9, the Raksha Mantri paid a visit to the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple (Neasden Temple) in London. The Hindu temple happens to be Europe’s first authentic and traditionally built Hindu shrine. Mr Singh offered Abishek Puja at the temple, as per the sources.
Mr Singh’s visit to the Neasden Temple also highlighted the importance of cultural connections in bilateral relations between the two countries.
