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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday unveiled ‘Raksha’, a 10-year strategic framework for India’s defence diplomacy aimed at deepening security partnerships, expanding defence exports and strengthening the country’s role as a security provider in the Indian Ocean Region.
The document, released in New Delhi, seeks to align India’s national security objectives with more proactive global defence engagement, providing a long-term roadmap for bilateral and multilateral partnerships amid an evolving geopolitical and security environment.
The framework identifies strategic partnerships, capacity building, indigenous defence exports and maritime security as key pillars of India’s defence diplomacy.
Under strategic partnerships, India plans to deepen bilateral and multilateral security cooperation with friendly countries. The capacity-building component envisages greater emphasis on joint military exercises, training programmes and sharing of operational best practices.
A major focus is on leveraging India’s growing indigenous defence-industrial capability to expand exports and establish the country as a reliable global defence manufacturing hub. The framework seeks to promote Indian-made defence platforms and systems as an important instrument of defence diplomacy.
Maritime security also figures prominently in the roadmap, with India seeking to strengthen its position as a ‘Net Security Provider and First Responder in the Indian Ocean Region’.
The Defence Ministry described defence diplomacy as a core pillar of India’s foreign policy. It said the new framework would provide a clear and actionable vision for the next decade, with the objective of positioning India as an anchor of peace, stability and a rules-based order.
The release of the document comes as India seeks to broaden and deepen its defence partnerships, while simultaneously expanding its domestic defence manufacturing base and footprint in global arms markets.
Team BharatShakti
