Inter-governmental MoU signed for Defence Industry Cooperation.
Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) will lead Indian participation in a mega shipping building collaboration with South Korea under a government-to-government Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in New Delhi on 21 April 2017.
HAL from Visakhapatnam has been nominated from the Indian side for the collaboration.
The Koreans are expected to recommended an organisation in due course of time to enable HSL to upgrade and modernise its facilities and execute naval shipbuilding projects in a timely and cost effective manner.
HSL would be able to imbibe best practices in shipbuilding leading to effective project management.
HSL, in consultation with the recommended Korean partner, is to identify and develop indigenous sources/vendors for the supply of majority of the material and equipment that would be needed in co-operative naval projects, thus paving the way for the development of ancillary industry/maritime cluster.
Broadly, the inter-governmental MoU for Defence Industry Cooperation in Shipbuilding.
The MoU was signed by Secretary (Defence Production), Ashok Kumar Gupta and South Korea’s Minister of Defence Acquisition and Programme Administration (DAPA), Chang Myoung-Jin.
The salient points of the MoU are as follows:-
• Develop and strengthen defence industry co-operation between India and South Korea;
• The organisations recommended for co-operative projects may conclude separate agreements (contracts) between them to implement the specific projects.
• The MoU will come into effect from the date of signature by both sides and will be initially valid for a period of five years and would be automatically extendable for further successive five year at a time.
The MoU is under the overall umbrella of the “Special Strategic Partnership” between both countries to encourage greater cooperation between shipyards in the defence sector.
Accordingly, India’s Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has approved the MoU as part of the “Defence Industry Cooperation”.
