India and the United Kingdom appear to be entering a new era of multi-faceted cooperation, given the renewed vigor of the former’s economic growth trajectory and the latter’s impending exit from the European Union. Thus, there are multiple new elements underlying the cross-border cooperation between India and the UK, a significant component being security and defence, vis-à-vis maritime security, counter-terrorism, disaster resilience, climate change etc.
During Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the UK in November 2015, both countries decided to elevate their defence relationship via the establishment of capability partnerships across key strategic areas. Discussions have been institutionalized in the form of dialogue under the Defence Consultative Group Meeting, which is held annually at the level of the Defence Secretary. Moreover, a formal bilateral Defence and International Security Partnership(DISP) was signed, with an emphasis upon strengthening cyber-security, counter-terrorism and maritime security.
Under the DISP, both governments agreed to work on indigenous projects under “Make in India.” As part of the ongoing negotiations, the UK is in talks with the Indian government, about building a new state-of-the-art aircraft carrier, similar to Britain’s HMS Queen Elizabeth. According to this, the Indian Navy will possibly purchase detailed plans for a 65,000-ton British warship to build a copy-cat supercarrier (with the design modified to suit local industry requirement), which will be named INS Vishal in 2022
In a joint statement released in 2017, a shared vision for the India-UK defence partnership was laid out. It was stated that this would entail not only cooperation in the defence industry, but would also include stronger military to military engagement, in the form of training and advanced joint exercises.
In 2019, India and UK renewed their Memorandum of Understanding on defence equipment cooperation, following bilateral defence and security equipment talks in London. This has been described as “step change” in the long-standing defence relationship of both countries. This MoU was originally signed on April 1997 and was subsequently renewed in April 2007.
On the global platform, the UK is supportive of India’s bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations’ Security Council. Both countries are also committed towards improvement in the efficacy of the UN’s peace-keeping operations, deepening dialogue on disarmament and non-proliferation as well working towards India’s entry into all Export Control Regimes.
Importantly, both countries will continue to work towards the disruption of all financial and tactical support for terrorist networks like the Al Qaeda, ISIL, Haqqanis, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. Through the exchange of the best practices and technologies, they will aim to drive forwards international efforts to prevent terrorist attacks via effective strategies, in partnership with the industry, civil society and communities.
Both countries have agreed to re-double efforts to identify mutual needs related to defence and security capability needs as well as collaborate on solutions. Through the joint collaboration and exploitation of procurement opportunities, the hope is that both will benefit from technological and manufacturing capabilities, thereby supporting long-term cooperation between their defence and security industries.
India Outbound
June 3, 2019
 
source https://indiaoutbound.org/defence-and-security-collaboration-between-india-and-the-uk/
No comments:
Post a Comment