NEW DELHI, MAR 13   :    Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and Italian Secretary General of Defence & National Armament Director Lt Gen Luciano Portolano on Wednesday discussed on a wide range of defence industrial and military cooperation issues, and also exchanged views on the Indo-Pacific and the security situations.

Both the officials co-chaired the 10th India-Italy Joint Defence Committee (JDC) meeting, a Defence Ministry statement said.

The focus of the meeting was to enhance defence industrial cooperation. India and Italy had signed an agreement on defence cooperation in October 2023 during the visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Italy.

With the agreement providing the overarching framework to deepen bilateral defence relationship, both sides discussed ways and means to bring the defence companies of both the countries together for joint projects, including for co-production in India.

The Defence Secretary suggested the integration of Indian vendors in the global supply chains of Italian defence companies to bring value to both sides and improve the supply chain resilience.(UNI)