Crucial meeting of Indo-Russian defence cooperation body today

New Delhi, Sept 29 : The eighth meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) will be held here today.

The meeting will cover a broad spectrum of issues including supply of defence systems, equipment upgrade, product and life cycle support for defence equipment of Russian origin.

Issues like licensed and joint production, joint development and production of systems and platforms, interaction between the two armed forces and military technical cooperation will be discussed during the meeting.

Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, leading a high-powered military delegation, will take part in the meeting.

Serdyukov will co-chair the Commission meeting with the Defence Minister AK Antony.

Serdyukov is visiting India for the first time as the Russian Defence Minister. During his three-day stay in India, he will visit the Brah-Mos Aerospace Complex in the capital besides the Para Brigade of the Army in Agra.

IRIGC-MTC was established in 2000 with a view to strengthen our bilateral defence cooperation. India and Russia share long standing friendly relations.

Since the establishment of a strategic partnership between the two countries in 2000, the two governments have steadily developed and strengthened bilateral cooperation covering a range of areas of which defence forms a significant component.

ANI