South Korea's Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back held talks with his Indian counterpart on defense and arms cooperation during the Indian official's first visit to Seoul in seven years, the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday.
Ahn met with Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh at the defense ministry building in Seoul on Thursday morning. The two ministers agreed to further expand cooperation in the defense and arms sectors, building on the "Joint Strategic Vision" adopted at last month's bilateral summit.
On arms cooperation, the two sides praised past achievements, including the export of K9 self-propelled howitzers to India, and agreed to continue expanding cooperation. They also shared the need for systematic development of defense cooperation through the activation of regular consultative bodies.
The two sides signed agreements to lay the foundation for substantive defense cooperation systems, including in defense cybersecurity, United Nations peacekeeping operations (PKO), and cooperation between the two countries' national defense universities.
The two sides also agreed to continue developing mutually beneficial cooperation as trusted partners in the region.
Thursday's meeting was arranged after Ahn invited Singh at the 12th ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) last year. It marked the first visit to South Korea by an Indian defense minister since 2019.
