India and the United States on Thursday vowed to expand bilateral defence cooperation as outgoing American Defence Secretary Ashton Carter met his counterpart Manohar Parrikar in the national capital for the record-breaking seventh time and termed New Delhi as a "major defence partner".
"Thank you my friend," Carter told Parrikar as both met at the South Block.
During the meeting, which was more of a thanksgiving one, Carter said, "Today our defence relationship takes a major step as we designate India as a major defence partner.
A powerful U.S. Congressional conference committee had on November 30 asked Carter and the Secretary of State to take the necessary steps to recognise India as America's major defence partner in a bid to strengthen bilateral security cooperation.
The provision mentioned in the voluminous Congressional conference report, running into more than 3,000 pages, on $618 billion National Defence Authorisation Bill, also asked the Defence Secretary and the Secretary of State for an assessment of the extent to which India possesses capabilities to support and carry out military operations of mutual interest of the two countries.
It now needs to be formally passed by the two chambers of the Congress – the House of Representatives and Senate – before U.S. President Barack Obama can sign it into law.
Meanwhile, Parrikar said he appreciated Carter's strong commitment to defence partnership.
"It is not an exaggeration that our defence relations are a major driver in our bilateral relations," he said, adding Carter's conceptualisation of the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative shows his interest in bilateral defence cooperation.
Parrikar said he was happy to see conclusion of discussion on major defence partnership.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated James Mattis, a retired 4-star Marine Corps general, for the post of the U.S. Defence Secretary.
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