India, UK hold defence consultative group meet in London

INTERNATIONAL DESK: To review defence cooperation, India and UK on Tuesday held a defence consultative group meeting in London, the Indian High Commission in UK said.

Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar co-chaired the India-UK Defence Consultative Group (DCG) meeting with his counterpart David Williams, Permanent Secretary and principal civilian advisor for the UK Ministry of Defence.

The Embassy added that both sides reviewed the progress of various service level bilateral groups and other defence cooperation mechanisms.

Earlier in the month of July, India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met his United Kingdom counterpart Stephen Lovegrove and discussed a wide range of subjects of bilateral and global significance.

The key points discussed included cooperation in cyber security, maritime and Indo-Pacific, regional security, and dealing with violent extremism. The focus was on specific and substantial outcomes to take the partnership forward in line with the vision of the India-UK Roadmap 2030.

Taking forward discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the NSAs also discussed forward-looking cooperation in the technology and defence sectors with a focus on key objectives of the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.

British High Commission said in a tweet the two NSAs discussed regional security and reiterated their commitment to transforming defence and security cooperation.

UK National Security Adviser also met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. UK National Security Adviser Sir Stephen Lovegrove also met with External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar They held further discussions about the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the UK and India,” the British High Commission had said. (ANI)