NSA Doval holds talks with visiting British counterpart Lovegrove

New Delhi, Jul 21 (PTI) National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Thursday held extensive talks with his visiting British counterpart Sir Stephen Lovegrove with a focus on regional security, combating violent extremism and further boosting overall defence and security cooperation.

It is learnt that the situation in Afghanistan, Indo-Pacific and the Ukraine crisis figured in the talks.

In a tweet, the British High Commission in India said the two NSAs discussed regional security and reiterated their commitment to transform defence and security cooperation as part of the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Government sources said the discussions covered a wide range of subjects of bilateral and global significance. They said the focus was on “specific and substantial outcomes” to take the partnership forward in line with the vision of the Roadmap 2030.

The sources said the two NSAs discussed “forward looking cooperation” in technology and defence sectors with a focus on key objectives of India’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India) initiative.

“The key points discussed included cooperation in cyber security, maritime and Indo-Pacific, regional security and dealing with violent extremism,” said a source.

The India-UK relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the India-UK virtual summit held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Boris Johnson in May last year.

At the summit, the two sides adopted a 10-year roadmap to expand ties in the key areas of trade and economy, defence and security, climate change and people-to-people connections, among others.

In April, Modi and Johnson agreed on a new and expanded India-UK defence partnership.

The British prime minister, during his visit to Delhi in April, also announced that the UK is creating an Open General Export Licence (OGEL) for India to “reduce bureaucracy and slashing delivery times” for defence procurement and that London will help India in the co-development of military hardware, including indigenous production of fighter jets.