U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter welcomed Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar to the Pentagon on Monday, ahead of key joint exercises taking place in India next month.
Advertisement
The Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) was “in principal” agreed on during Carter’s visit to India in April.
One of these foundational agreements was signed between the USA and India in 2002 – the General Security of Military Information Agreement.
The two also noted the signing of an information exchange annex under the framework of the Aircraft Carrier Joint Working Group. “However, as the USA has shown, there can be no compromise when are faced with terrorism”, Mr Parrikar said.
Carter and Parrikar met on the same day U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Commerce Secretary John Pritker arrived in New Delhi to meet with their Indian counterparts and participate in the U.S. -India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.
“This agreement will also cause serious misgivings, unless explained and justified, among India’s traditional partners and time tested allies, regionally and globally”, says the Congress. It does not give the USA automatic access to Indian military bases or to logistical support, but simply smoothens existing practices. The logistical agreement is a milestone in US-India defence relations because of the outsized political importance it had taken on in India, where it had touched on domestic sensitivities, experts said. Yes, defence partnerships have a LOT of acronyms.
The designation of major defence partner allows defence trade and technology-sharing of a higher grade, Mr. Carter said. “We appreciate the support from United States in our efforts to eliminate terrorism in India’s neighborhood”, Mr Parrikar added.
Meanwhile, an article in the Global Times said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “lost patience and switched to the expected hardline tone of hostility”. That means more collaboration, co-production, co-development and technology transfer in defence.
The Minister and the Secretary also discussed cooperation on capabilities to increase India’s capacity for maritime domain awareness, but surprisingly, there was no mention of India’s request for Predator drones for this goal.
Advertisement
Carter in his remarks, drew a comparison between the US’ pivot to Asia and India’s Act East Policy.
