India and the United States on Tuesday pledged to deepen defence and security cooperation through greater maritime and space domain awareness and information sharing.
The pledge came in a joint statement after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump here.
"Prime Minister Modi and President Trump pledged to deepen defence and security cooperation, especially through greater maritime and space domain awareness and information sharing; joint cooperation; exchange of military liaison personnel; advanced training and expanded exercises between all services and special forces; and partnership between their defence industries," the statement read.
Noting that a strong and capable Indian military supports peace, stability in the Indo-Pacific, and reaffirming his pledge to support transfer to India of advanced US military technology, President Trump welcomed India's recent decision to procure MH-60R naval and AH-64E Apache helicopters.
As per the statement: "As India works to acquire new defence capabilities, President Trump reaffirmed India's status as a Major Defense Partner affording it the highest consideration for procurement and technology transfer purposes. The leaders looked forward to the early conclusion of defence cooperation enabling agreements including Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement."
Modi and Trump also resolved to enhance the security of their homelands through cooperation and to jointly fight international crimes like human trafficking, terrorism and violent extremism, drug-trafficking and crimes in cyberspace.
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The two leaders further welcomed the decision by the US Department of Homeland Security and India's Ministry of Home Affairs to reinvigorate the Homeland Security Dialogue.
"As a demonstration of their shared commitment to combatting the threat that illicit drugs pose to their citizens, they announced their intent to establish a new Counter-Narcotics Working Group between their respective law enforcement agencies," the statement further read.
The US President concluded his maiden two-day official visit to India on Tuesday. During the visit, he had held both restricted and delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Modi.
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