SINGAPORE: India agreed to enhance its military-to-military engagement with Indonesia, as they concluded their first-ever Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC) meeting in Jakarta on Thursday.

Service-to-service talks, involving the navies and air forces as also the armies of the two maritime neighbours, are now possible for the first time.

The two sides identified procurement and "co-production" of defence equipment as promising areas for cooperation on the basis of feasibility and the principle of "maximising comparative advantages."

Atmosphere of hope

Indicating this, the Indian delegation chief and Defence Secretary, Shekhar Dutt, said over telephone from Jakarta that the talks marked the beginning of a dialogue in "an atmosphere of hope, trust, and confidence."

Asked about Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono's comment, in an interview to The Hindu , about Jakarta's interest in accessing New Delhi's know-how in "network centric warfare," Mr. Dutt said the reason had to do with India's expertise in information technology. It was for the professionals on both sides to discuss the issue, while the JDCC now "provided a framework" for broad-spectrum cooperation in the defence domain. A checklist could now be drawn up for practical measures.

Countering piracy

The current regime of coordinated patrolling by the navies of the two countries for anti-piracy and anti-terror operations could be "enhanced or upgraded" on the basis of professional assessments, Mr. Dutt said.

On India's possible role in the maintenance of security along the busy trade route of Malacca Straits, he expressed India's readiness to help, depending on "whatever is identified by Indonesia for its capacity-building."

Prof. Juwono had already indicated that external powers could extend "technical assistance' for ensuring security along this waterway.

The Indonesian delegation to the JDCC meeting was headed by Defence Department Secretary General, Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin. The Indian team included Ambassador Navrekha Sharma and the Deputy Chief of Mission, T.S. Tirumurti, besides a number of top military officials.

Pranab visit next week

The discussions marked the beginning of a phase of intensive bilateral engagement, with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee expected to visit Jakarta next week for a meeting of the Joint Commission and talks with top Indonesian leaders.

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