Washington, DC
November 21-23, 2005


The seventh meeting of the India-US Defence Policy Group (DPG) was held in Washington, DC on November 21-23, 2005. The meeting was co-chaired by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Mr. Eric. S. Edelman and Defence Secretary Government of India, Mr. Shekhar Dutt. Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt also called on Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and held meetings with Under Secretary of Defense (AT&L) Kenneth Krieg and Deputy National Security Advisor Dr. J.D. Crouch. 

The DPG included an intensive exchange of views on the international strategic and security situation and on the further development of bilateral defence cooperation as envisaged under the Defence Framework agreed to between US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the Indian Minister of Defence Mr. Pranab Mukherjee on June 28, 2005 in Washington, DC. Both countries view their bilateral defence cooperation as an important facet of the India-US global partnership, reflected in the India-US Joint Statement of July 18, 2005. 

The DPG reviewed the reports of the four sub-groups - Military Cooperation Group, Joint Technology Group, Senior Security Technology Group and Senior Technology Security Group and the Defence Procurement & Production Group (DPPG). The newly constituted DPPG held its first meeting in Washington, DC on November 18-21, 2005 and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in the field of defence supplies as well as industrial and technological cooperation between USA and India. 

Both sides emphasized the importance of service-to-service ties. In this context, they took note of the series of successful joint exercises between the armed forces of both countries including the recently held “Cope India 2005” exercise between November 7-17, 2005. The DPG also included a policy-level dialogue on the global strategic and security situation.