New Delhi,May 27:The Defence Minister Mr AK Antony has called for co-development and co-production of defence equipments with international manufacturers. He said, the defence procurement policies are designed with this aim to further develop the country’s capabilities in production of land, air and naval defence equipments. He was speaking at a reception last night in Berlin hosted by the German Defence Minister Dr Franz Josef Jung, on the eve of the Berlin Air Show-2008. It was attended by and captains of defence industries and representatives of a number of European companies. Mr. Antony will jointly inaugurate the India Pavilion with German Chancellor Ms. Angela Merkel today at the Berlin Air Show, in which India has been invited as a Partner Country.
He said, the event marks an important step forward in the growing strategic partnership between the two countries. Mr. Antony said, both the sides have put in place an institutional and practical foundation for bilateral cooperation in the field of defence, with the signing of the Defence Cooperation Agreement in 2006 and the Agreement on Mutual Protection of Classified Information in 2007. He expressed satisfaction over the leading German firms and organisations taking advantage of the opportunities to forge new and innovative partnerships to locate some production and manufacturing in India. He said, the Berlin Air Show provides another platform for forging business alliances and I hope that both sides will take advantage of this opportunity.
Mr. Antony said, the Indian defence industry, which has been largely in the state sector, has developed broad-based capabilities and the government has recently put in place policies and initiatives to encourage private sector participation. He said, the Defence Offset Facilitation Agency set up in September last year to act as a bridge between the Indian defence industry and potential vendors, both foreign and Indian, also helps private industry to obtain industrial licenses for the manufacture of defence products. He said, encouraged by these policies, Indian companies are entering into high-tech partnerships with defence majors located abroad to bid for advanced systems and projects in India. He added at the same time there is keen interest to engage India as a partner in design, production and development of advanced weapon systems. Courtsey : DD NEWS