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Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Held Talks With German Counterpart On Expanding Bilateral Defence

Defence Minister of India Rajnath Singh held talks with his German counterpart Boris Pistorius to focus on expanding bilateral defence and strategic ties.

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with German counterpart Boris Pistorius
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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held wide-ranging talks with his German counterpart Boris Pistorius on Tuesday to focus on expanding bilateral defence and strategic ties.

Ahead of the talks, people familiar with the agenda of the meeting said defence-industrial cooperation would be a key area of discussion.

The German defence minister is on a four-day visit to India.

The people cited above said it is expected that India's plan to procure six stealth conventional submarines at the cost of around Rs 43,000 crore would figure in the talks between the two defence ministers.

One of the contenders for the contract is Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS).

Before travelling to India from Indonesia, Pistorius told German's state-owned broadcaster DW that India's continuing reliance on Russian weapons is not in Germany's interest.

"It is not up to Germany to change that on our own," Pistorius said while replying to a question on India's dependence on Russian weaponry

"This is an issue we have to solve jointly with other partners. But of course, we can't have an interest in the long run that India is so dependent on Russia's delivery of weapons or other materials," he said.

"I want to send a signal that we are willing to support our partners, our reliable partners like Indonesia, like India," he said.