Portugal Offers To Assist Indian Air Force’s Embraer Aircraft In Operations; Seeks Partnership In Shipbuilding

Portuguese Defence Minister Joao Gomes was on a visit to India recently to meet with his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman in the view of boosting the ties in the areas of defence cooperation, training and industries.

During the visit, Gomes highlighted the keenness of Portuguese defence industries to partner with their Indian counterparts to form joint ventures and partner under the Make in India program.

Gomes also identified ship building as a crucial area of potential cooperation besides offering to assist Indian armed forces with state-of-the-art clothing built using advanced nano-technology.

He also underscored upon the possibilities of cooperation in the area of aviation including support and maintenance, given India uses Embraer aircrafts while Portugal has a unit of Embraer which would be willing to assist India's set of Embraer aircrafts on Indian territory, reports Economic Times.

During the visit, the Gomes and Defence Minister Sitharaman visited and paid homage at the recently inaugurated National War Memorial after which Gomes also met with the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff.