New Delhi , 27 October (HC). India and US defense cooperation and exchange of information – signed during Tuesday’s move on to new heights provide “Two Plus Two” talks Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (Biisia), which is now about the border areas of India Satellite and other remote sensing data will be available. India will be able to monitor any military activity of neighboring countries and can dominate the cyber defense sector.
This is the fourth important defense cooperation agreement between India and the United States to be held in the past year. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said that this agreement will greatly increase the country’s defense capability.
Apart from BECA, four other agreements were also signed at the third meeting held in New Delhi on Tuesday as part of the ‘two plus two’ talks between the defense ministers and foreign ministers of India and the US. In this ‘two plus two’ meeting, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Minister Mark Asper represented their country, while Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar joined it on behalf of India.
Despite the possibility of a change of administration just before the next presidential election in the US, the meeting is considered very important. BECA was signed by an official of the Ministry of Defense on behalf of India and an official of the National GO Special Intelligence Agency of the US.
According to defense experts, this agreement will give India a decisive edge over neighboring countries in a possible war or cyberwar. Definite information will be received about the deployment of enemy equipment and military equipment including missiles and the electronic systems of the enemy country will be disabled.
After the meeting, the ministers of the two countries read their statements in a joint press conference and answered some questions.
Mike Pompeo and Mark Esper called the meeting important in the context of China’s growing offensive in Asia, while Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar did not mention China despite the circumstances of military tensions in East Ladakh. The Defense Minister in his statement only talked about increasing India’s defense capability.
Tuesday’s meeting between the two countries is considered a step towards the formalization of the four-nation quadrilateral in Asia. The United States is pushing to give military form to the quadrants of India, America, Japan, and Australia. A few days ago, India invited Australia to join the Malabar naval exercise to be held in the Indo-Pacific region. Till now only the Navy of India, America and Japan were involved in the Malabar exercise.
Expressing grief over the death of Indian soldiers in a military conflict with China in eastern Ladakh, US ministers discussed the aggressive activities of China and its ruling Communist Party in Asia and advocated mutual cooperation to overcome it.
In addition, Two Plus Two signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Earth Sciences of India and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for technical cooperation in Earth observation and Earth science. It was agreed to expand the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of India and the United States regarding cooperation with the Global Center for Nuclear Energy Partnership, India. Agreement for the electronic exchange of customs data between postal operators (India Post and United States Postal Service). The two agreed to work together for cooperation in Ayurveda and cancer research.(HS)