Rajnath meets Aus ministers; holds talks on AI, defence cooperation

NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles in New Delhi on Monday.

An official said that both the nations are cooperating in areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI), anti-submarine, anti-drone warfare and cyber domain.

“The two sides are also in an advanced stage of discussion to conclude implementing arrangements on Hydrography Cooperation and cooperation for air-to-air refueling,” the official said.

He said that both the sides expressed satisfaction at the increasing military-to-military cooperation between the two countries, including joint exercises, exchanges and institutional dialogue.

The Defence Minister has also congratulated Minister Marles on the maiden and successful conduct of multilateral exercise ‘Malabar’ by Australia in August this year.

The two ministers agreed that deepening cooperation in defence industry and research would give a fillip to the already strong relationship.

The official said that the Defence Minister has suggested that shipbuilding, ship repair and maintenance and aircraft Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) could be the potential areas of collaboration.

“The two ministers also discussed cooperation for joint research in underwater technologies,” the official said.