In a review of the mutual efforts to respond to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and make an assessment of its broader implications at the 2+2 ministerial dialogue in Washington on Monday, India and the U.S. urged for an immediate cessation of hostilities. The two sides also announced several measures to further expand the defence cooperation, one of which is India joining the Bahrain based multilateral partnership, Combined Maritime Force (CMF), as an Associate Partner.

“The Ministers unequivocally condemned civilian deaths. They underscored that the contemporary global order has been built on the UN Charter, respect for international law, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states,” a joint statement issued after the 2+2 ministerial dialogue between the Defence and Foreign Ministers said on Ukraine. The Dialogue was preceded by a virtual meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joseph Biden.

India joining the CMF “will strengthen the cooperation in regional security in the western Indian Ocean,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in the joint press statement after the dialogue.

The CMF currently has 34 member nations and is not bound by a fixed political or military mandate and exists to “uphold the rules-based international order” by countering illicit non-state actors on the high seas and promoting security, stability, and prosperity in the international waters.

Space situational awareness pact

The two countries also concluded space situational awareness agreement between the Department of Space, India, and Department of Defence, U.S., and would commence the defence space and defence Artificial Intelligence dialogues in the near future in addition to increasing the scope and complexity of the military exercises, Mr. Singh stated. In space cooperation, NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) are jointly developing the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite, planned for launch from India in 2023. The NISAR mission will collect data vital to tackling the climate crisis.

Mr. Singh noted that that India and the U.S. have “complementary interests” and a shared will to achieve mutual goals. He said they had discussions on a range of bilateral, defence and global issues and have a convergence of views on “most of them.” “Both India and U.S. share a common vision of a free, open, inclusive and rules-based Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region. Our partnership is of critical importance for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and the Indian Ocean Region (IOR),” he stressed.

In this direction, he said, the two sides also shared their assessments of the situation in the neighbourhood and the IOR. “The use of terrorism as an instrument of statecraft against India came up prominently.”

Call to Taliban

On Afghanistan, the joint statement called on the Taliban to abide by United Nations Security Council resolution, which demands that Afghan territory must never again be used to threaten or attack any country or to shelter or train terrorists, or to plan or finance terrorist attacks.

On the larger defence cooperation, Mr. Singh said they were on course in effectively implementing the foundational agreement, the Communication and Information on Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA), and completing the implementation of Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation (BECA). The two sides also agreed to explore further cooperation in defence cyber, special forces and expanding the scope of logistics cooperation under LEMOA and during joint exercises.

In line with the government’s push to reduce defence imports and develop domestic defence manufacturing, Mr. Singh observed that he shared India’s desire to take the partnership towards co-development and co-production with U.S. companies. “We called for increased investments by U.S. defence companies in India under the ‘Make in India’ programme. Participation of U.S. entities in industrial collaboration and partnership in research and development will be critical for success of India’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ campaigns,” he added.

Washington’s offer

The U.S. has been pushing India to reduce its arms purchases from Russia and has offered its state of the art equipment in return to meet New Delhi’s defence needs. Acknowledging India’s focus on developing its domestic capabilities and helping to ensure reliable defence supplies, the “Ministers committed to work closely across their respective governments on co-production, co-development, cooperative testing of advanced systems, investment promotion, and the development of Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities in India,” the statement said.

In addition, to further enhance defence industrial cooperation in the naval sector, both sides agreed to explore possibilities of utilising the Indian shipyards for repair and maintenance of ships of the U.S. Maritime Sealift Command (MSC) to support mid-voyage repair of U.S. naval ships, it added.