india

Updated: Apr 14, 2017 00:29 IST

India and the United Kingdom will take steps to forge partnerships to strengthen cooperation in areas ranging from aircraft carriers, counter terrorism, air force training and shipbuilding to UN peacekeeping, said a joint statement issued after the defence ministers of the two countries met on Thursday.

Defence minister Arun Jaitley and his British counterpart Michael Fallon asked the relevant steering groups to finalise proposals for consideration at the next defence consultative group that is scheduled to meet later this year. Fallon arrived in India on Tuesday for a four-day official visit.

The two sides said the bilateral partnership would seek to create stronger military-to-military engagement, including training and advanced joint exercises between the two militaries.

“The renewed engagement will place capability and technology development at its core and seek to harness the complementary strengths of both nations in defence manufacturing,” the statement said.