Rajnath Singh holds key bilateral talks in Bishkek to boost defence ties

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday met his Chinese counterpart Admiral Dong Jun in Bishkek to discuss maintaining peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and broader regional security concerns including the West Asia crisis. The meeting, held on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers' conclave, came as New Delhi and Beijing move to repair their frosty relations.The defence ministry said Singh and Dong shared views on the regional and global security landscape, especially the developments in West Asia. It is learnt that the two ministers also discussed the situation along the LAC and underlined the importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas.
Defence Minister Singh also met his Russian counterpart Andrei Belousov. It is learnt that Singh and Belousov discussed various ongoing defence acquisition projects including Russia's supply of S-400 air defence missiles to India. In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to procure five units of the missile systems and three of them have already been delivered. The fourth unit is expected to be delivered in the next few days while the fifth one is likely to be sent in November. Singh also held a series of high-level bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Belarus.