India, Russia to hold annual military cooperation talks

India and Russia will hold talks on defence cooperation this week, announced the Union Ministry of Defence on Tuersday.

The 10th meeting of the India Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) will be held on Thursday.

The Russian Defence Minister AE Serdyukov, who will be co-chairing the Commission along with the Defence Minister AK Antony, is arriving here on Wednesday.

Serdyukov will be accompanied by a large delegation of Russian defence ministry and industry representatives.

The IRIGC-MTC, headed by the Defence Ministers of the two countries, was instituted in the year 2000 with an objective to further the bilateral defence cooperation. Nine meetings of the Commission have been held so far, in New Delhi and Moscow every alternate year.

The two Defence Ministers are also expected to discuss regional and global security issues. India and Russia share long-standing friendly relations.

Since the establishment of a strategic partnership between the two countries in the year 2000, the two governments have steadily developed and strengthened bilateral cooperation covering a range of areas, of which defence forms a significant component.

The two countries share a vibrant and a multifaceted military technical cooperation which includes not only supply of defence equipment and systems but also collaboration in R&D and production.