Wellington, New Zealand, August 24 (ANI): New Delhi and Wellington advanced discussions on further strengthening their defense partnership, with a focus on maritime security and joint training, during the second India-New Zealand Defence Strategic Dialogue.
In a post on X, the official account of the Directorate of Public Relations, Ministry of Defence, said Joint Secretary Amitabh Prasad and Deputy Secretary of the New Zealand Ministry of Defence Richard Schmidt co-chaired the second India-New Zealand Defence Strategic Dialogue in Wellington.
The post further highlighted that the talks focused on advancing the objectives of Roadmap 2030, which was announced earlier this year during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to New Zealand in July.
Along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Modi announced the creation of the India-New Zealand Strategic Partnership Roadmap 2030 as a shared framework to guide joint action and further strengthen ties over the next four years.
“The Dialogue focused on advancing maritime security, joint training and #defencecooperation, while furthering the objectives of the Roadmap 2030,” the post said.
Defense and security cooperation is one of the six pillars of the partnership.
The Roadmap 2030 outlined that New Delhi and Wellington agreed to continue pursuing military interaction through exercises, visits by maritime, air and land units, short-term personnel exchanges, sporting visits, defense staff college exchanges and high-level defense dialogues.
The partners also agreed to enhance dialogue on defense-related matters, including at the ministerial level; pursue cooperation on maritime issues; operationalize the Memorandum of Arrangement establishing a Joint Working Group on counterterrorism; and engage on shared cybersecurity priorities through the India-New Zealand Cyber Dialogue.
Other key areas include working toward the formalization of the India-New Zealand Memorandum of Arrangement on Cooperation in Combating Trafficking of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, Precursor Chemicals and Related Matters, as well as a Memorandum of Arrangement between India’s National Investigation Agency and the New Zealand Police on law enforcement cooperation. (ANI)
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