In a bid to enhance bilateral defence cooperation between the two countries, Defence Secretary of India Ajay Kumar and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence of Finland Jukka Juusti signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further defence cooperation between India and Finland.
The MoU on co-operation in the field of Production, Procurement, Research and Development of Defence-related Equipment and Industrial cooperation has been inked on the sidelines of Raisina Dialogue 2020. Under the broad ambit of the MoU, cooperation between Finnish companies and Indian Defence Public Sector Undertakings could be explored.
DefExpo 2020 to be held in Lucknow between February 5-9
A draft MoU between the two countries in the field of defence cooperation amongst others was under discussion since the DefExpo 2018 and has now been formalised in the run-up to DefExpo 2020, to be held in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow between February 5-9, 2020.
India-Finland relations
In 2019, Mr Juusti had led a delegation to Aero India in Bengaluru and post his visit, the Permanent Secretary had evinced their interest to participate in the 'Make in India' vision and formalise an arrangement for Defence Industrial cooperation through an MoU.
On February 13, 2016, former Prime Minister of Finland Juha Sipila had bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to India for the inauguration of the 'Make in India' week. On April 17, 2018, Prime Minister Modi held a bilateral meeting with Mr Sipila during the first India-Nordic Summit in Stockholm, Sweden. Also, a delegation from Finland had visited India between November 29 – December 02, 2018 to explore new business opportunities for Finnish companies.
