Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh has concluded his two day visit to Armenia.  During the visit, he held bilateral meetings with Deputy Defence Minister of Armenia, Karen Brutyan, and First Deputy Defence Minister and Chief of General Staff of Armenia, Edward Asryan.

 

The Defence Ministry said that the discussions covered the entire gamut of ongoing defence and military technical cooperation, with particular emphasis on capacity building, training, military technical cooperation and defence research and development. It added that the two sides also exchanged the Terms of Reference for institutionalising Joint Services Staff Talks between the Indian and Armenian Armed Forces.

 

During the visit, the Defence Secretary called on Minister of Hi-tech Industry of Armenia, Davit Tradevosyan, and exchanged views on proposals relating to defence research and development. Coinciding with the visit, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two Defence Ministries to expand cooperation in the fields of joint collaboration, innovation and research was concluded and signed.

 

The Ministry informed that Mr Singh also called on Minister of Defence of Armenia Suren Papikyan. During the meeting, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen India-Armenia defence cooperation and discussed new avenues for enhancing cooperation in military technical cooperation.

 

The Defence Secretary had a fruitful meeting with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, Mnatsakan Safaryan, in Yerevan. The discussions focused on the expanding defence partnership between India and Armenia.

 

The Ministry also said that as Armenia seeks to diversify its defence procurement, India has emerged as a major partner in military technical cooperation. It added that the visit demonstrated the increasing congruence of views between India and Armenia on bilateral, regional and global issues.