India and the United States on Monday signed an agreement governing the use of each others land, air and naval bases for repair and resupply and has taken step forward in the defense ties between the two countries considering growing maritime powers of China.

India’s defense minister Manohar Parrikar and US defense secretary Ashton Carter, after signing the bilateral “Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA)”, said that the pact will facilitate opportunities and ‘practical engagement and exchange’.

A joint statement after the pact was signed read, “They agreed on the importance (that) this framework will provide to facilitate innovative and advanced opportunities in defense technology and trade cooperation. To this end, the US agreed to elevate defense trade and technology sharing with India to a level commensurate with its closest allies and partners.”

The joint statement also said that defense ties between the two countries is based on their ‘shared values and interests’ and their ‘abiding commitment to global peace and security’.

The agreement can be considered as a milestone in US-India defense ties and according to Ashton Carter, the signing of the agreement will ‘make the logistics of joint operations so much easier and so much more efficient’.

The US military has already made it clear that it wants to do more with India, to counter China, especially in the South China Sea, an important trade waterway.

However, both Parrikar as well as Carter did not name China and mentioned the importance of free flow trade in both countries. Parrikar said, “India and the United States have a shared interest in freedom of navigation and overflight and unimpeded commerce as part of rule-based order in (the) Indo-Pacific.”

This growing ties between India and US can be an answer to various countries including Pakistan and China.

By Prajakt K.