India-Argentina sign agreements to strengthen cooperation in defence

NEW DELHI: Argentina's Defence Minister Jorge Taiana held a bilateral meeting with his counterpart Rajnath Singh on Tuesday and announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between both countries and the signing of a Specific Agreement on Academic Cooperation for peacekeeping.

Taiana also invited Minister Singh to the II Latin American Conference of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (ALCONU) that will take place in Argentina on September 12.

In a press statement, Argentina's Defence Minister said, “We are here to perfect and deepen the agreements we have and sign some others. One of them is a Memorandum of Understanding that is richer in content and concrete possibilities than the one currently in force." "I think we have a concrete opportunity in the field of Defense, where we can give a quality leap in cooperation between the two countries,” he added.

The head of the portfolio added that the world is rapidly changing, but nevertheless, Latin America has some characteristics that make the region stand out — the first is the absence of weapons of mass destruction and the non-existence of conflicts between states; the second is the enormous variety of natural resources; and the third is the existence in some countries of significant development in strategic areas with high potential for cooperation and the establishment of joint ventures.

During the meeting, the officials discussed issues related to defence cooperation and exchange in areas of training and training of officers and cadets. They also analysed the global geopolitical situation and Argentina's minister highlighted the importance that the country attaches to the vision of a bicontinental country and its projection towards the South Atlantic and Antarctica.

Another point of the meeting was the Malvinas Question, where Minister Taiana thanked India for its support in the United Nations Decolonization Committee.

Earlier, on Tuesday, Jorge Taiana, who arrived in India the day before, laid a wreath at the National War Memorial in the national capital on Tuesday and paid homage to the fallen heroes. During his visit, Argentina's Defence Minister is also scheduled to visit Bengaluru.

The Argentine Defence Minister visited BrahMos Aerospace and is scheduled to interact with leading think tanks in Delhi. He will also travel to Bengaluru and visit the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) facilities and separately interact with the defence start-ups in an event organised by Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), read India's Defence Ministry press release.