India to boost defence industry partnership with Qatar, South Korea

India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held talks with Qatar’s deputy prime minister and his South Korean counterpart separately on January 4 to discuss ways to boost bilateral cooperation in defence with the two countries. The Qatari and the South Korean ministers will also participate in the DefExpo in Lucknow, being held from February 5 to 9. During their delegation-level talks with Qatari deputy PM and Minister of State (MoS) for Defense Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah, the two ministers reiterated their commitment to strengthen cooperation, including close defence industry-to-industry ties. The Qatari minister inspected the Tri-Service Guard of Honour after he was received by MoS Shripad Naik. “Today’s discussions will add new vigour to India-Qatar Defence relations,” Mr Singh later tweeted. Mr Singh also held talks with South Korean Defence Minister Jeong Kyeongdoo in which both ministers stressed on enhancing cooperation in defence industry, and research and development.  “The roadmap lists a number of possible areas of cooperation, including research and development. It also promotes investment in Defence Industrial Corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu,” the ministry said in a statement. “Several subjects pertaining to deepening bilateral defence cooperation were discussed. Our talks were extremely fruitful,” Mr Singh said on Twitter.