India-Africa Defence Dialogue To Be Held Biennially Alongside DefExpo: Govt

In a bid to further strenghten existing ties between African countries and India, New Delhi has proposed to institutionalise India–Africa Defence Dialogue by holding it during successive DefExpos, which are held every two years.

The first-ever India Africa Defence Ministers Conclave (IADMC) was held in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in conjunction with DefExpo on 6 February 2020, and was co-organised by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of External Affairs.

This was the first in the series of Pan Africa events at the Ministerial level in the run-up to India-Africa Forum Summit IV.

A Joint Declaration, ‘Lucknow Declaration’ was adopted after conclusion of IADMC 2020 as an outcome document of the Conclave, the ministry said.

"In furtherance of the declaration and in consultation with stakeholders, India proposes to institutionalise the India Africa Defence Dialogue during successive DefExpos to be held once every two years," the ministry said.

Institutionalisation of the India-Africa Defence Dialogue will help building on the existing partnerships between African countries and India, and to explore new areas of convergence for mutual engagements including areas like capacity building, training, cyber security, maritime security and counter-terrorism, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement on Monday (13 September).

"It has been decided that Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses shall be the knowledge partner of India Africa Defence Dialogue and will assist in providing necessary support for enhanced defence cooperation between India and Africa," the ministry said.

Further, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will host the Defence Ministers of African Nations in the next India-Africa Defence Dialogue on the sidelines of the DefExpo that is scheduled to be held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat in March 2022.

The broad theme of this India Africa Defence Dialgue will be ‘India-Africa: Adopting Strategy for Synergizing and Strengthening Defence and Security Cooperation’, the ministry said.