Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh hosted the Indian Ocean Region Plus (IOR+) Conclave on the sidelines of 12th DefExpo in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on October 19, 2022. The event addressed common threats in the IOR and measures to address the same.
Along with the IOR+ Conclave, the Raksha Mantri, on October 19, 2022, held bilateral meetings with delegation leaders from Bangladesh, Angola, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Paraguay, who are attending the DefExpo. In the course of the meetings, Shri Rajnath Singh met with Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique, Security Advisor to Prime Minister of Bangladesh; Mr Joao Ernesto Dos Santos, Minister of National Defence and Homeland Veterans of Republic of Angola; Ms Thandi Modise, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Republic of South Africa; Ms Gladys Arsenia Ruiz Pecci, Vice Minister of Defence, Paraguay and Mr Gilbert Kabanda Kurhenga, Minister of National Defence and War Veterans, Democratic Republic of Congo.
The entire spectrum of defence cooperation was discussed during the meetings, with focus on identifying avenues to expand mutually beneficial collaboration.