New Delhi: India and Armenia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Monday covering cooperation in research, development, innovation and joint production in the defence industry, the Ministry of Defence said.
Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh called on Armenia’s Minister of High Tech Industry, Davit Tadevosyan, in Yerevan on August 17, where the two sides signed the MoU, reaffirming their intent to widen bilateral defence-industrial cooperation in areas of shared interest, the ministry said on X.
Earlier the same day, the Defence Secretary met Armenian Defence Minister Suren Papikyan in Yerevan to discuss new ways of strengthening defence ties between the two countries. The ministry said the meeting reaffirmed both sides’ shared commitment to deepening and elevating the India-Armenia defence partnership.
India’s Ambassador to Armenia, Nilakshi Saha Sinha, also took part in the meeting. Secretary Singh separately called on Armenia’s Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Edvard Asryan, in Yerevan, where the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the defence partnership further, with renewed focus on defence-industrial cooperation and research and development.
Singh arrived in Yerevan on Sunday for a two-day visit and was received by Ambassador Sinha and senior officials from Armenia’s Defence Ministry.
The visit comes against the backdrop of growing defence engagement between the two countries and follows a visit by a senior Armenian military delegation to New Delhi earlier this year. In April, Lieutenant General Asryan had met Defence Secretary Singh in New Delhi to discuss defence cooperation between the two nations. During that visit, he also held talks with Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh, focusing on enhancing operational cooperation, interoperability and bilateral air power ties, according to the IAF’s Media Co-ordination Centre.
