India and Kazakhstan agreed on Friday to strengthen their bilateral defence cooperation with training, defence exercises and capacity building.

During the bilateral talks here, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while interacting with the Kazakhstani delegation led by the Lieutenant-General Nurlan Yermekbayev, underscored the need to look at the possibility of defence industrial collaboration of mutual interest.

The Defence Minister of Kazakhstan thanked Singh 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 had 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, Raj Kumar plus other senior civil and military officials of the Indian Ministry of Defence were also present on the occasion.

Lieutenant General Nurlan Yermekbayev has been on an official visit to India from April 7-10, 2021 on the invitation of Rajnath Singh.

On Thursday, the Kazakh delegation visited HQs 12 Corps at Jodhpur, and the Longewala sector in Jaisalmer.

(IBNS)