India, Malaysia to boost ties in defence production & AI

NEW DELHI: India and Malaysia on Wednesday decided to enhance cooperation in

maritime security

,

defence production

and multilateral engagements as well as in emerging areas like cybersecurity and AI.
The 13th meeting of the Malaysia-India defence cooperation committee at Kuala Lumpur, co-chaired by defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh and his counterpart Lokman Hakim Bin Ali, held wide-ranging discussions on 'effective and practical initiatives' to further expand

bilateral defence engagements

as well as on regional and global issues.
The two sides also exchanged the finalized 'terms of reference (ToR)' on the establishment of a forum on the Russian-origin Sukhoi-30 fighters that both countries operate. As part of its policy to steadily enhance military ties with Asean countries, India has earlier trained Malaysian pilots to fly the Sukhoi-30 jets.
"The Sukhoi-30 forum will enable closer cooperation between the two air forces in exchanging expertise and best practices in the maintenance of the fighters. There is a growing bilateral defence cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries, with regular engagements in recent years," an official said.

"The two sides identified ways to deepen existing defence collaboration, particularly in the industry, maritime security and multilateral engagements. They agreed to form a joint focus group to address non-traditional maritime security threats," the official added.