Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman met State Councilor and Defence Minister of China Gen. Wei Fenghe, here today. The Chinese Defence Minister is on an official bilateral visit to India from 21- 24 August 2018
The two Ministers held extensive discussions on bilateral defence related engagement as well as regional and international developments in a free, frank and constructive manner. They welcomed recent exchanges between their Armed Forces which had enhanced mutual trust and understanding to implement the consensus reached between Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at the Informal Sumit in Wuhan.
It was decided to expand the engagement between their Armed Forces relating to training, joint exercises and other professional interactions. Both sides also decided to work towards a new bilateral MoU on Defence Exchanges and Cooperation to replace the MoU signed in 2006.
The Ministers also discussed issues relating to the border areas. It was agreed to work towards full implementation of ongoing confidence building measures as well as greater interactions at the working level to ensure the maintenance of peace and tranquillity, including early operationalisation of the Hotline between the relevant departments of their Armed Forces
