India, Italy hold 10th meeting of Joint Defence Committee

New Delhi, March 13 : India and Italy on Wednesday held their 10th Joint Defence Committee (JDC) meeting, where they exchanged views on the Indo-Pacific and the security situation and also discussed a wide range of defence industrial and military cooperation-related issues, a Defence Ministry statement said.

Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and Italys Secretary General of Defence and National Armament Director Lt Gen Luciano Portolano co-chaired the meeting.

The Defence Secretary suggested the integration of Indian vendors in the global supply chains of Italian defence companies to bring value to both sides and improve supply chain resilience.

According to the Ministry of Defence, the focus of the meeting was to enhance defence-industrial cooperation.

India and Italy signed an agreement on defence cooperation in October 2023 during the visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Italy.With the agreement providing the overarching framework to deepen the bilateral defence relationship, both sides discussed ways and means to bring the defence companies of both countries together for joint projects, including for co-production in India.

gcb/vd