New Delhi [India], April 30 (ANI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday met with his Italian counterpart Guido Crosetto and held extensive talks on defence cooperation and the current situation in West Asia.

Speaking about his meeting Rajnath Singh posted, 'Happy to have welcomed my Italian counterpart Mr Guido Crosetto and held extensive talks with him in Delhi today. We discussed a wide range of regional and global issues including the current situation in West Asia. We also discussed the avenues to further develop mutually beneficial defence industrial cooperation under India's Atmanirbhar Bharat programme and Italy's defence cooperation initiative. A Bilateral Military Cooperation Plan (MCP) 2026-27 was also exchanged regarding military engagements between the Armed forces of both countries.'

Earlier, the Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto laid a wreath at the National War Memorial and inspected the Guard of Honour.

Italian Defence Minister Crosetto's maiden visit to India underlines the desire of both nations to further expand existing cooperation and explore new areas of collaboration particularly under the industrial partnership domain. The signing of India-EU Defence & Strategic Partnership in January 2026 signals increasing strategic convergence and has provided further impetus to defence industrial cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

The defence relationship between India and Italy has expanded to dialogue, service-to-service interactions, training, export of defence equipment, sharing information, port calls, naval exercises, maritime security, etc. An agreement on Defence Cooperation was signed after the Defence Minister travelled to Italy in 2023 to have bilateral talks with his counterpart Crosetto.

Earlier this year, India and the European Union signed a landmark Security and Defence Partnership, marking the first overarching defence and security framework between the two sides, as leaders from both blocs agreed to significantly deepen cooperation across strategic, regional and global security domains.

In a joint statement issued following the 16th India-EU Summit held with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the leaders welcomed the signing of the Security and Defence Partnership (SDP), noting that the agreement would strengthen collaboration in maritime security, the defence industry and technology, cyber and hybrid threats, space and counterterrorism, and other areas. (ANI)