by: Nav Jeevan

Rajnath holds bilateral meetings with leaders from Bangladesh, Angola, SA, Congo & Paraguay

NE NEWS SERVICE

GANDHINAGAR, OCT 19

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hosted the Indian Ocean Region Plus (IOR+) Conclave on the sidelines of 12th DefExpo in Gandhinagar, on Tuesday.

Along with the IOR+ Conclave, the Defence Minister held bilateral meetings with delegation leaders from Bangladesh, Angola, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Paraguay, who are attending the DefExpo.

In the course of the meetings,  Rajnath Singh met with Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique, Security Advisor to Prime Minister of Bangladesh; Joao Ernesto Dos Santos, Minister of National Defence and Homeland Veterans of Republic of Angola; Thandi Modise, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Republic of South Africa; Gladys Arsenia Ruiz Pecci, Vice Minister of Defence, Paraguay and Gilbert Kabanda Kurhenga, Minister of National Defence and War Veterans, Democratic Republic of Congo.

The entire spectrum of defence cooperation was discussed during the meetings, with focus on identifying avenues to expand mutually beneficial collaboration.

Defence Secretary holds bilateral meetings with delegations from African nations

As a part of DefExpo 2022, the 2nd India-Africa Defence Dialogue was organised in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on Tuesday. The Defence Secretary held a number of bilateral meetings with delegations from African nations on this day.

A bilateral meeting was conducted with Lt Gen Isman Mohamed Hassan Karar, Secretary General MoD, Sudan. Lt Gen Rashad Abdelhamid Ismail Abdalla, Sudan Army Chief was also present. The ongoing defence cooperation issues and potential areas for future cooperation were discussed.

A Zambia delegation led by Norman Chipakupaku, Permanent Secretary, MoD Zambia met Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar. Issues relating to training and capacity building were discussed, in addition to the review of ongoing bilateral defence cooperation.

Dr Ajay Kumar also met the Niger delegation led by Brigadier General Diddilli Amadou, Secretary General of the Defence Minister, Niger. Potential areas for defence cooperation between the two nations were deliberated.

A Mali delegation led by Maj Gen Sidiki Samake, Secretary General  of the Department met the Defence Secretary.  They discussed potential defence cooperation including defence industrial  cooperation issues.

India announces ‘India-Africa Security Fellowship Programme’

The India-Africa Defence Dialogue (IADD) was held on the sidelines of DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on Tuesday. The Gandhinagar Declaration, adopted as the outcome document of the second edition of the IADD, charted out new areas for enhancing the India-Africa defence and security partnership.

During the IADD, in keeping with the new proposals of the Gandhinagar Declaration, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched the ‘India-Africa Security Fellowship Programme’ and released its brochure by handing it over to Director General, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA).

MP-IDSA, the knowledge partner for the IADD, will host the Fellowship Programme. The fellowship will give an opportunity to African scholars to pursue research on defence and security issues in India. The fellows would be attached with the MP-IDSA for a period of 1-3 months. A stipend would also be provided to the scholar.

Further details of the application procedure may be gathered from the MP-IDSA website (https://www.idsa.in/).