Rajnath Singh in Washington: India, US sign pact for reciprocal priority support to promote national defence

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The United States (US) and India have signed an agreement to provide reciprocal priority support for goods and services that promote national defence. This arrangement will help both the countries in acquiring the industrial resources they need from each other to solve the problem of unanticipated supply chain disruptions to meet national security needs.

"Two important documents have been signed in Washington DC as Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh's visit to the United States begins. Senior defence officials from both the sides concluded the Security of Supplies Arrangement (SOSA), and Memorandum of Agreement regarding the Assignment of Liaison Officers, " RMO India took to X to post.

On behalf of the US, The Security of Supply Arrangement (SOSA) was signed by Vic Ramdass, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Industrial Base Policy, while Samir Kumar Sinha, Additional Secretary and Director General (Acquisitions), signed it on behalf of the Indian Ministry of Defence.

India is the 18th SOSA partner of the US after Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

"This Security of Supply Arrangement represents a pivotal moment in the US-India Major Defence Partner relationship and will be a key factor in strengthening the US- India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI)," said Ramdass, adding that he is looking forward to hosting the next DTTI meeting this fall to deepen cooperation between the defence industrial bases and pursue bilateral co-development, co-production, and co-sustainment initiatives.

Under the arrangement, the US and India commit to support one another's priority delivery requests for procurement of critical national defence resources.

The US will provide India assurances under its Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS), with programme determinations by the Department of Defence and rating authorisation by the Department of Commerce (DOC). In turn, India will establish a government-industry Code of Conduct with its industrial base, where the domestic firms will voluntarily agree to make every reasonable effort to provide the US priority support.

"With an expanding global supply chain for DOD, SOSAs are an important mechanism for DoD to strengthen interoperability with US defence trade partners. The Arrangements institute working groups, establish communication mechanisms, streamline DoD processes, and proactively act to allay anticipated supply chain issues in peacetime, emergency, and armed conflict. They are also a useful tool in developing investment strategies to ensure redundancy and security," according to a statement by the US Department of Defence.

Meanwhile during his US visit, Singh will hold a bilateral meeting with his American counterpart Secretary of Defence Llyod Austin as well as with the US Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Jake Sullivan. Singh's visit comes in the backdrop of the growing momentum in the India-US relations and defence engagements at multiple levels. The visit, which will conclude on August 26, is expected to further deepen and broaden the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, the Ministry of Defence stated.

A day earlier, the Defence Minister said that he would discuss areas of strategic interests and seek to strengthen defence cooperation between India and US with Lloyd Austin.

(With ANI inputs)