India and Tanzania held the fourth meeting of the Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC) in Zanzibar from February 2 to 3, reviewing ongoing defence cooperation and exploring new avenues to further strengthen bilateral ties.
During the meeting, both sides discussed a wide range of areas for collaboration, including military training, service-to-service engagement, maritime security and defence industry cooperation. The discussions reflected the shared interest of the two countries in enhancing defence preparedness and regional security.
The two delegations also explored emerging areas of cooperation such as counter-terrorism, peacekeeping training and capacity building in niche domains including Electronic Warfare (EW), Cyber and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Cooperation in military medicine was identified as a potential new area, while both sides agreed to initiate engagement between their Air Forces, complementing the existing cooperation between the Indian and Tanzanian Navies and Armies.
The Indian delegation was led by Joint Secretary (Defence Cooperation) Amitabh Prasad and included senior officials from the Department of Defence and the Indian Armed Forces. The Tanzanian delegation was headed by Ibrahim Mhona, Chief of Operations and Training of the Tanzania People’s Defence Force (TPDF). India’s High Commissioner to Tanzania, Bishwadip Dey, also attended the meeting.
According to Defence Ministry, India and Tanzania share a close and strategic partnership, with defence cooperation guided by a five-year roadmap.
