South African government's defence procurement agency, Armscor's Chairman Dr Phillip David Dexter on Friday said that they support Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Make in India' and seek more military collaboration between the two nations.
While speaking to ANI, Dexter said that their country is comfortable with India's 'Make in India' initiative and they hope to see more cooperation and business between the two countries.
"We are certainly very comfortable with it (Make in India policy) and have a similar policy in our own country. When it comes to defence and security, countries must maintain their sovereignty, hence we understand the policy and the self-reliance thrust policy of India and believe that there are lots of areas for us to collaborate," Dexter said while speaking to ANI.
Talking about his agency Armscor and his visit to India, he mentioned, "Armscor is the procurement agency of the South African National Defence Force. Our delegation is here to meet our counterparts to discuss some mutual collaboration and issues of interest between the two countries."
Dexter believes that both countries have great scope for cooperation and can learn a lot from each other and he hopes to see more cooperation and business between India and South Africa.
Expressing his views on the role that the South African defence industry can play in military cooperation with India, the Armscor chairman said, "In South Africa, we inherited a substantial defence industry from the previous government. We had lots of companies who are world leaders. What we have tried to do is to maintain the intellectual property and those capabilities."
"So we certainly think we have a lot to offer as a country to our counterparts in India but obviously, we also believe that India has a lot to give us. So it is a relationship we would like to see on reciprocity," Dexter said.
Highlighting South African defence capabilities, he maintained saying, "If you look at our capabilities alone, everything from helicopters to artillery to armoured vehicles to all the kinds of ammunition you can think of is world-class. The purpose of our visit is to expand the cooperation between the two countries as much as possible."
Commenting about the participation in 'Aero India 2023' this month in Bengaluru, Dexter said that South African government representatives would be attending the event.
( With inputs from ANI )
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