Washington: Saying that India's importance for
the US would grow in the long-run, a Pentagon report has favoured a mutually beneficial defence relationship between the two countries.
The Pentagon is working towards a series of steps, including co-development of armaments, transfer of some of its most advanced technologies, to strengthen military to military
co-operation between the US and India, it said in its one-of-its kind rare report on India submitted to the US
Congress.
"Over the next five years, we will continue to build the support structures necessary to ensure the maturation of a robust and mutually beneficial defense relationship with India
in the Asia-Pacific and globally," it said.
"We will advance the defense relationship by deepening people-to-people ties through continued military-to-military
engagements, implementing agreed upon cooperation and pursuing new avenues of collaboration with particular emphasis on maritime security and counter-terrorism activities and expanding defense trade and armaments cooperation," the Pentagon said.
The nine-page report was submitted to the Congress
as directed by the apex American legislative body in its
latest budget passed this year.
"The Department of Defense delivered the US-India Security
Cooperation Report, which was requested in the National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012," the Pentagon
spokesman George Little said.
The one-time report provides a current status of
US-India relations and outlines ways to enhance bilateral
security cooperation in the future, Little said in a
statement.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, November 02, 2011, 09:20