New Delhi: In a boost to Indo-Israel defence cooperation, the two nations October 29 decided to set up a new Task Force during the 15th India-Israel Joint Working Group meeting in Tel Aviv. The decision to form a sub-working group was also taken in the meeting.
“India-Israel Joint Working Group (JWG) on Bilateral Defence Cooperation has agreed to form a Task Force to formulate a comprehensive Ten-Year Roadmap to identify new areas of cooperation,” said the Ministry of Defence in a statement.
The meeting was co-chaired by Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar and the Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Defence, Maj Gen (Retd) Amir Eshel.
During the meeting, the two sides reviewed the progress made in Military to Military engagements including exercises and industry cooperation. The co-chairs were also appraised on the progress made by the Sub Working Groups (SWG) on Defence Procurement and Production and Research and Development.
It was also decided to form a SWG on Defence Industry Cooperation and in this regard a Terms of Reference was signed between the two sides.
“The formation of this SWG would enable efficient utilisation of bilateral resources, effective flow of technologies and sharing industrial capabilities. It was also decided to schedule the Service level Staff talks in a specific time frame,” said the Ministry of Defence.
The JWG is the apex body between the Ministry of Defence of India and Israel’s Ministry of Defence to comprehensively review and guide all aspects of Bilateral Defence Cooperation. The two sides agreed to hold the next JWG in India on mutually convenient dates.
