Defence Mi♏nister Rajnath Singh on Monday held a telephonܫic conversation with his British counterpart Grant Shapps, focusing on ways to develop deeper India-UK cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
The defence ministry said Singh and Shapps briefly reviewed the ongoing bilateral defence engagements and d🥀iscussed possible cooperation in new domains.
Defence Mi♏nister Rajnath Singh on Monday held a telephonܫic conversation with his British counterpart Grant Shapps, focusing on ways to develop deeper India-UK cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
The defence ministry said Singh and Shapps briefly reviewed ꦰthe ongoing bilateral defence engagements and discussed possible cooperation in new domains.
"Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a telephonic conversation with UK Secretary of State for Def🔴ence Grant Shapps on November 13. Both ministers discussed a range of defence and security issues with particular emphasis on the Indo-Pacific," it said.
"They briefly re🍌viewed the ongoing engagements and discussed possible cooperation in new domains," the minis🌜try said in a statement.
Singh and Shapps explored ways and means to ♈develop closer defence relations, it said.
"Grant Shapps invited the defence minister to visit the UK in the near future. The defence minister congratulated Sha♎pps on his app♔ointment as the Secretary of State for Defence," it said.
Shapps was appoi💙nted as the defence secretary in August, replacing Ben Wallace.
Later, in a post 🌃on 'X', Singh said he and Shapps discus🅰sed a range of defence and
security related issues.
"Had a telephonic conversation with the UK Secretary of State for Defence Mr Grant Shapps. We discussed a ra🐽nge of defence and security related issues with particular em🔥phasis on the Indo-Pacific," he said.
The phone conversation betwee🐽n Singh and Shapps came amid 💫the ongoing visit
to the UK by External Affairs🍌 Minister S Jaishankar.
The India-UK relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the India-UK virtual summit held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his then British counterpart Boris John🐬son in May 2021.
At the summit, the two sides adopted ไa 10-year roadmap to expand ties in the key areas of trade and economy, defence and security, climate change and people-to-people connections, among others♏.
Last month, the first India-UK '2+2' foreign and defence dialogue had taken place that saw the two sides focusing on ways to boost cooperation in a range of key areas such as trade and investment,🐽 defence, critical technologies, civil aviation, health and energy.
At the senior official-level dialogue (2+2), the two sides also discussed international developments including in t🦩he Indo-Pacific region and considered the possibility of enhancing anti-terror collabora♐tion.
-With PTI Input