UK defence procurement minister Philip Dunne to visit India tomorrow

LONDON: British Minister of State for Defence Procurement Philip Dunne will travel to India tomorrow to meet Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to further boost the bilateral defence and security partnership.

"Last November our Prime Ministers set out their vision for a more strategic Defence and International Security Partnership. The UK and India face many similar strategic challenges so we need to work even more closely together," Dunne said on the eve of his visit.

"In order to take our defence relationship to the next level we are establishing Capability Partnerships to structure our cooperation on strategic capabilities across principal aspects of military effectiveness. I am here to progress this initiative together with the Indian Defence Minister and to hear from different parts of the Indian defence community," he said.

The minister will also participate in a round-table discussion organised by the United Service Institution to discuss the "Strategic Defence Partnership" between the UK and India, a UK government statement said.

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UK last year, the UK and India agreed to deepen defence and international security partnership across military capability, counter terrorism and cyber, as well as consolidating strong cooperation in areas of defence and security.