After concluding signing a logistics support agreement with Japan early last week, India is now working on three more similar agreements with the UK, Russia and Vietnam. The agreement with Russia is expected to be signed in October 2020.
At present, India has military logistics agreements with various countries like all Quad nations, Japan, Australia and the US, which can help the country enhance interoperability as they also operate several common military platforms.
As per reports, the agreements with the United Kingdom and Vietnam are under discussion, whereas, the agreement with Russia termed as, the Reciprocal Logistics Support (ARLS), is expected to be signed during the bilateral summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin in mid-October, said Roman Babushkin, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Russian Embassy in India, in a statement.
The agreement gives India access to Russian facilities in the Arctic region which is seeing increased global activity as new shipping routes open up and resources become available, officials said earlier. India has recently announced investments in the Russian Far East.
In the last few years, India has signed various logistics agreements starting with the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Understanding (LEMOA) with the United States in 2016, and the Navy has been the biggest beneficiary of them.
