India and Russia on Wednesday reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the bilateral defence cooperation and mull new avenues for collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Top military officials of both countries discussed security aspects and bilateral ties at the 5th Meeting of the Working Group on Military Cooperation of India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military & Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC), which took place at the Manekshaw Centre during October 28-29.
 
Current defence cooperation plans were also reviewed during the meeting.
 
"Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to elevating the India-Russia #DefenceCooperation, paving the way for focused engagements, enhanced training exchanges and new initiatives under the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership," the Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) said in a post on X.
 
 
The meeting was co-chaired by Chief of Integrated Defence Staff Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit and Head of Delegation, Deputy Chief of Main Operations, Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, Lt Gen Dylevsky Igor Nikolayevich, the defence ministry said.
 
"The discussions focused on strengthening the ongoing defence engagements between the two sides and mulled on new initiatives under the ambit of the existing bilateral cooperation mechanism," it said.
 
The Working Group meeting is a forum established to progress defence cooperation between the two countries through regular interaction between Headquarters, Integrated Defence Staff, and the Main Directorate of International Military Cooperation of the Ministry of Defence, Russia, it said.
 
The Working Group reviewed the current defence cooperation plans and explored new avenues for collaboration and knowledge-sharing, the HQ IDS said.