India and Armenia have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to facilitate cooperation in the defence sector. The MoU was signed during the visit of defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh to the country.“Defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh called on minister of high tech industry of Armenia Davit Tadevosyan in Yerevan on Aug 17. The two sides signed an MoU on cooperation in research, development, innovation and shared production in the defence industry, reaffirming their commitment to expand bilateral defence industrial cooperation in areas of mutual interest,” the defence ministry said.On Tuesday, the defence secretary visited the Military Academy of Armenia and reviewed the IT Lab established with India’s support. He was also briefed on weapon systems supplied by India. He underlined the expanding cooperation in capacity building and training and reiterated India’s commitment to support Armenia in areas of mutual interest.A day earlier, Singh called on Armenian defence minister Suren Papikyan and reaffirmed India’s commitment to deepen and elevate the India-Armenia defence partnership. His visit comes amid intensifying defence ties between New Delhi and Yerevan, following a high-level Armenian military delegation’s visit to New Delhi earlier this year.Armenia has emerged as India’s top defence export customer, committing nearly $2 billion to procure advanced indigenous military hardware amid its ongoing security modernisation and diversification efforts.
