The U.S. Secretary of Defence and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had a telephonic conversation

The U.S. Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin appreciated the important role being played by the Indian Navy in conducting anti-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean Region. This was conveyed during a telephonic conversation with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on March 18.

The comments come in the backdrop of the over 40-hour anti-piracy operation 1600 NM from India that led to the surrender of 35 pirates and release of 17 crew members of the merchant vessel Ruen.

“The two Ministers discussed ways and means to implement the India-U.S. defence cooperation roadmap which was concluded last year. Other defence industrial cooperation issues such as repair of U.S. naval ships in Indian shipyards were also briefly discussed,” a Ministry statement said.

Both Ministers briefly discussed a range of bilateral, regional security and defence cooperation issues, the Ministry said. They reviewed the recent bilateral events such as the INDUS-X Summit held in New Delhi in February, and the bilateral tri-service exercise ‘Tiger Triumph’ which commenced in India on Monday.

Both the Ministers had last met in New Delhi in November 2023 during the India-U.S. Ministerial 2+2 Dialogue.

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