(MENAFN- Live Mint) India and the United States on Friday signed a 10-year framework agreement to strengthen cooperation in the defence sector. The pact was finalised during a“fruitful” meeting between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Defence Secretary Peter Hegseth, in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur.

This comes amid US President Donald Trump' decision to impose a 50% tariff on Indian goods, a measure he described as retaliation for New Delhi's continued imports of Russian oil.

The defence minister said the agreement will guide policy across all aspects of the India-US defence partnership. Rajnath Singh called it a“signal” of their increasing strategic alignment and said it would mark the beginning of a new decade of partnership.

“Defence will remain as a major pillar of our bilateral relations. Our partnership is critical for ensuring a free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific region,” Singh asserted.

Pete Hegseth said,“This advances our defense partnership, a cornerstone for regional stability and deterrence. We're enhancing our coordination, info sharing, and tech cooperation. Our defense ties have never been stronger.”

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The ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) functions as the top defence consultative and cooperative platform within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The ADMM-Plus framework includes ASEAN member states like Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam-along with eight Dialogue Partners: India, the United States, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Ahead of the visit, Singh had said that the ASEAN-India meetings in Kuala Lumpur“aim to further strengthen defence and security cooperation among ASEAN member states & India and advance the 'Act East Policy'.”

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Meanwhile, China's Defence Minister Dong Jun told Pete Hegseth that both countries should build "trust" during discussions at the summit in Malaysia on Friday, according to Beijing, as reported by AFP.

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In a meeting readout, the Chinese defence ministry said that Dong urged Hegseth to "enhance trust and dispel uncertainty" and suggested that "the two militaries [should] explore the right way to get along," following the day after Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met in South Korea.

Trump told reporters that the leaders did not discuss Taiwan on Thursday, but Dong informed Hegseth that the "unification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is an irresistible historical trend," as per the defence ministry readout.

(With inputs from agencies)

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