As part of growing bilateral ties, India and Israel have decided to form a Task Force to formulate a comprehensive ten-year roadmap to identify new areas of defence cooperation.
This was decided at the 15th meeting of the India-Israel Joint Working Group (JWG) on bilateral defence cooperation held in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The meeting was co-chaired by Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar and the Director-General of Israel’s Ministry of Defence, Maj Gen (Retd) Amir Eshel.
The decision comes close on the heels of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to the Jewish nation.
The JWG is the apex body between the Ministry of Defence of India and Israel’s Ministry of Defence to comprehensively review and guide all aspects of Bilateral Defence Cooperation.
The two sides reviewed the progress made in the military to military engagements, including exercises and industry cooperation. The co-chairs were also apprised of the progress made by the Sub Working Groups (SWG) on Defence Procurement & Production and Research & Development.
It was also decided to form an SWG on Defence Industry Cooperation and in this regard, a Terms of Reference was signed between the two sides. The formation of this SWG would enable efficient utilisation of bilateral resources, effective flow of technologies and sharing industrial capabilities. It was also decided to schedule the Service level Staff talks in a specific time frame.