'Red Tape' Should Not Mar India-U.S. Defense Cooperation, Says Hagel
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Saturday that India and United States should not let "bureaucratic red tape" thwart the momentum of defense partnerships between two of the world's largest democracies.
Hagel wrapped up his three-day New Delhi visit after meeting with his Indian counterpart Arjun Jaitley and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday in an effort to push military trade with India's new right-wing government.
"Bureaucratic red tape within either of our governments must not bound the limits of our partnership for our nations," said Hagel in an address to a Delhi-based think tank.
"Yesterday there was a common theme in my discussions with Indian leadership," Hegel said.
"We agreed that pursuing next steps in our partnership we have to be result-oriented and build momentum with concrete achievements."
He emphasized that the defense partnership between India -- the world's biggest arms importer -- and United States must focus on strengthening the "military-to-military relations," "re-energizing defense industrial cooperation" and "expanding regional cooperation".
His visit comes ahead of Modi's first official visit to Washington next month.
The U.S. welcomed India's recent proposal to raise the limit on foreign direct investment in defense to 49 percent from 26 percent, a move that Hagel said would help the defense ties between the two democracies reach their "full potential".
The U.S. defense secretary said that even as Washington and New Delhi tried to manage competition with China, they should avoid "traps of rivalry" with the Asian giant and focus on regional stability.
"India need not chose between closer partnership with America and improved ties with China," Hagel said.
However, he added, that India and the U.S. should consider expanding security cooperation with Japan for joint naval exercises.
Indian officials said New Delhi and Washington were close to finalizing a $1.4-billion deal to buy at least 22 U.S. Apache and 15 Chinook helicopters.
