Rajnath Singh holds talks with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin's New Delhi visit prominently focuses on advancing India-US new defence innovation and industrial cooperation initiatives and continuing with the efforts to expand operational cooperation between the US and Indian militaries.

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday held wide-ranging talks with his American counterpart Lloyd Austin focusing on various key aspects of India-US defence ties and the regional security scenario including in the Indo-Pacific. The US Defence Secretary arrived in New Delhi on Sunday on a two-day tour that comes over two weeks ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to Washington.

Taking to Twitter, the US defence secretary said, " I'm returning to India to meet with key leaders for discussions about strengthening our Major Defense Partnership. Together, we're advancing a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific."

• I’m returning to India to meet with key leaders for discussions about strengthening our Major Defense Partnership.
  
  Together, we’re advancing a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific. pic.twitter.com/P73Oy2npDx

  — Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) June 4, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  I’m returning to India to meet with key leaders for discussions about strengthening our Major Defense Partnership.
  
  Together, we’re advancing a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific. pic.twitter.com/P73Oy2npDx

  — Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) June 4, 2023

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  I’m returning to India to meet with key leaders for discussions about strengthening our Major Defense Partnership.
  
  Together, we’re advancing a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific. pic.twitter.com/P73Oy2npDx

  — Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) June 4, 2023

Austin attended the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore and his first stop was in Tokyo where he met with Japanese Defence Minister Yasukasu Hamada and other senior leaders and visit US troops stationed in Japan. Later, from Japan, he flew to Singapore, where he addressed plenary remarks at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) 20th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. During his stay in Singapore, he also held key bilateral meetings to advance US partnerships across the region.

In his address at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday, the US Defence secretary said, "Our Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology with India lets us explore new ways to co-develop key defence platforms."

In a major move, President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Modi announced in May last year the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) to elevate and expand the strategic technology partnership and defence industrial cooperation between the two countries. The iCET is expected to forge closer linkages between the government, academia and industry of the two countries in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, 5G and 6G, biotech, space and semiconductors.