Rajnath Singh Holds Bilateral Talks With Kazakh Defence Minister
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh held bilateral talks with Defence Minister of Republic of Kazakhstan Lieutenant General Nurlan Yermekbayev in New Delhi on April 09, 2021. During the meeting, the two Ministers exchanged views to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation, including through training, defence exercises and capacity building. They agreed that both sides must look at the possibility of defence industrial collaboration of mutual interest.
The Defence Minister of Kazakhstan thanked Raksha Mantri for the opportunity given to the Kazakh troops for deployment as part of the Indian battalion in United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Both Ministers also positively assessed the annual KAZIND Exercise.
Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar, Secretary (Defence Production) Shri Raj Kumar and other senior civil and military officials of Ministry of Defence were also present on the occasion.
Lieutenant General Nurlan Yermekbayev is on an official visit to India from April 7-10, 2021. He visited HQs 12 Corps at Jodhpur and the Longewala sector in Jaisalmer. The Kazakh Defence Minister is in India on the invitation of Raksha Mantri.
INDIA-KAZAKHSTAN RELATIONS
Relations between India and Kazakhstan have also exhibited considerable dynamism and momentum over this period. India was one of the first countries to recognize Kazakhstan as a free, sovereign State after the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. President Nazarbayev chose India to be the first country outside the former Soviet block for a State visit in Feb, 1992 after the independence of Kazakhstan in Dec, 1991.
