New Delhi: India and Finland inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further defence cooperation between the two countries.

The MoU was signed by Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence of Finland Jukka Juusti.

The MoU on co-operation in the field of Production, Procurement, Research and Development of Defence related Equipment and Industrial cooperation was signed on the sidelines of Raisina Dialogue 2020.

Under the broad ambit of the MoU, cooperation between Finnish companies and Indian Defence Public Sector Undertakings could be explored.

A draft MoU between the two countries in the field of defence cooperation among others was under discussion since the DefExpo 2018 and has now been formalised in the run up to DefExpo 2020, to be held in Lucknow from February 5.

In 2019, Juusti had led a delegation to Aero India in Bengaluru and post his visit, the Permanent Secretary had evinced his interest to participate in ‘Make in India’ vision and formalise an arrangement for Defence Industrial cooperation through an MoU.

On February 13, 2016, Prime Minister of Finland Juha Sipila had bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to India for the inauguration of the ‘Make in India’ week in April 2018,

Prime Minister Modi held a bilateral meeting with Sipila during the first India-Nordic Summit in Stockholm, Sweden. Also, a delegation from Finland had visited India between November 29 – December 2, 2018 to explore new business opportunities for Finnish companies.