India-Russia Holds 4th Meeting of Working Group on Military Cooperation

The fourth meeting of the Working Group on Military Cooperation under the India-Russia Inter Governmental Commission on Military and Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC), concluded successfully in Moscow on November 27. The meeting marked a significant milestone in advancing the longstanding Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

The meeting was co-chaired by Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, Lt Gen. J.P. Mathew representing India and Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff Lt Gen. Dylevsky Igor Nikolaevich representing Russia. The Working Group emphasised the importance of continued knowledge-sharing and collaboration in areas of strategic interest. It also agreed upon expanding joint exercises to further solidifying the operational synergy between the two forces. Both nations have conducted numerous joint exercises across land, air and sea domains. Exercises such as INDRA, AVIA INDRA and INDRA Navy, have served as vital platforms for sharing best practices, refining joint operational tactics drills and procedures, and deepening mutual understanding.

The Declaration on the India-Russia Strategic Partnership was signed in 2000, which was elevated to the level of Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership in 2010. The Working Group, a crucial forum for India-Russia defence cooperation, provides a platform to assess existing military engagements and identified new areas for collaboration to address evolving security challenges.

This was preceded by Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov’s visit to India, during which he and External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar held a meeting with representatives of Russian and Indian businesses. This was held ahead of the 25th Session of the Intergovernmental Russian-Indian Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation. Amid the external economic pressure, Russia-India business relations continue to strengthen, and the countries demonstrate their readiness for further cooperation.

According to Manturov, “An objective indicator of this is the record volume of trade turnover that we reached last year. And there are all the prerequisites to surpass this achievement this year. At the same time, in addition to the quantitative growth of mutual trade, it is important to diversify its structure. Not just to balance commodity flows, but also to increase the share of high-tech products. The conditions for this are formed by two national programmes that are similar in spirit. Bearing in mind the course towards technological sovereignty taken by the Russian government and the ‘Make in India’ programme. Both of these initiatives are aimed at accelerating the pace of production, developing innovations and removing infrastructure restrictions.”

Manturov outlined the priority technological areas of Russia’s development, which include:

• Development of the transport industry, including the introduction of unmanned technologies and the transfer of vehicles to alternative fuels;
• Increasing the potential of the nuclear sector, the production of high-power turbines, equipment for solar and wind generation, improving LNG technologies;
• Providing the healthcare system with advanced medicines and medical devices, as well as strengthening Russia’s leading positions in the areas of nuclear medicine, production of vaccines and development of the cell engineering segment;
• Increasing agricultural productivity, including through genetic and biotechnology, precision farming systems, irrigation and reclamation technologies; and

• Building up competencies in high-tech means of production and technologies for the transition to a closed-cycle economy, as well as in space services.