As India and European Union (EU) look to expand defence and security cooperation, the EU’s first Defence Attaché took charge earlier this month while the two sides also held the first naval exercise recently, while officials noted that the ambit of security cooperation is expanding especially with focus on the Indo-Pacific.
“We have increased number of maritime exercises between EU and India… especially France and Italy. EU is now not only a trade and investment partner but also a security partner,” an EU official said on the sidelines of a discussion organised by the think tanks Council for Strategic and Defence Research and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. “We are now focussing on security, energy, sensitive technologies...,” the official said noting that there is lot of focus on digital connectivity.
