India, Italy to boost defence industrial framework for co-production of military hardware

Following the talks, India and Italy unveiled a bilateral military cooperation plan for 2026-27 and agreed to develop a defence industrial framework for co-production of military hardware. They discussed increasing interoperability in the Indo-Pacific, expanding partnerships among public and private stakeholders, and advancing technology collaboration, including co-production and co-development of defence platforms and equipment. The discussions also covered information exchange through the Information Fusion Center-Indian Ocean Region in Gurugram and reasserted shared values as the basis of their strategic partnership.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto held talks in New Delhi focusing on strengthening bilateral defence and strategic ties, including mutually beneficial defence industrial cooperation under India's Atmanirbhar Bharat programme and Italy's defence cooperation initiative. The two sides reiterated that the India-Italy strategic partnership is based on shared values like peace, stability, freedom and mutual respect.

Prior to the defence talks in New Delhi, Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto laid a wreath at the National War Memorial and paid homage to fallen soldiers. He also inspected the tri-service Guard of Honour.