NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held bilateral meetings with his Kyrgyz, Kazakh and Belarusian counterparts on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. During the meeting with the Defence Minister of Kyrgyzstan Major General Mukambetov Ruslan Mustafaevich, both sides discussed ways to strengthen the existing bilateral defence cooperation.

Defence Minister gifted the two Bhishm Aarogya Maitri Health Cube to the Kyrgyz side, which have been indigenously developed in India to ensure Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, and Search & Rescue during natural calamities

Rajnath Singh also announced the completion of the project of provisioning of 12 sets of Computer Systems each at IT Centres of Kyrgyz Military Institute, Bishkek and Military Unit 36806- Osh, followed by the successful installation of Wargaming Software and On-the-Job Training of the Personnel of Kyrgyz Armed Forces.

In his meeting with the Minister of Defence of Kazakhstan, Defence Minister emphasised that defence cooperation between the two countries encompasses diverse sectors and it forms an important pillar of bilateral partnership.

During the meeting with the Minister of Defence of Belarus Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin, Rajnath Singh underlined that India attaches high priority to developing mutually beneficial partnership with Belarus and identified capacity building & training as among the major areas of cooperation.

In addition, Defence Minister briefly interacted with Defence Minister of China Admiral Dong Jun and Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov. During the discussions, the Ministers shared views on the regional and global security landscape in particular the developments in West Asia.