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General
India, US sign decennary defence pact

WASHINGTON: India and the United States have signed a ten-year wide-ranging framework for close cooperation covering missile defence, co-production of military hardware, as well as sensitive technology transfers.

The framework, initialled by the Defence Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee and his US counterpart Mr Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon here yesterday, seeks, among other things, to enhance capabilities to combat the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).

Entitled "New Framework for the US-India Defence Relationship," the document said: "Today, we agree on a new framework that builds on past successes, seizes new opportunities and charts a course for the US-India defence relationship for the next 10 years ."

The document visualises an enhanced level of cooperation covering military to military relations as well as a defence industrial and technological relationship.

The Ministers agreed to set up a "defence procurement and production group" to oversee defence trade, as well as prospects for co-production and technology collaboration and sign deals on military "research, development, testing and evaluation" as well a s naval pilot training.

The defence pact comes a few weeks ahead of the state visit of Prime Minister Mr Manmohan Singh to the White House at the invitation of President Mr George W. Bush. Dr Singh will arrive on a three-day visit to the US from July 18.

The defence agreement also seeks to advance shared security interests between the two nations that include maintaining security and stability; defeating terrorism and violent religious extremism, and protecting the free flow of commerce via land, air and sea lanes. - UNI

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