The India-Indonesia friendship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2018
The seventh Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC) meeting between India and Indonesia, which will be held in New Delhi on May 3, 2024, is likely to see discussions on collaboration at the industry level in addition to capacity building and training.

The JDCC meeting will be co-chaired by Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and Secretary General of Ministry of Defence, Indonesia Air Marshal (Retd.) Donny Ermawan Taufanto, MDS. The top Indonesian military official, who is visiting India from May 2-4, 2024, will also hold discussions with representatives of Indian defence industries in New Delhi and Pune.

Announcing the meeting, the Ministry of Defence said that the India-Indonesia friendship, which was elevated to the level of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2018, has widened the scope of bilateral relations to allow for new collaboration in the realm of defence industry, science and technology etc. 

"The defence relations form a significant pillar to this growing partnership," the ministry pointed out.

The JDCC was established following the 2001 defence cooperation agreement between India and Indonesia. Discussions during the annual meetings  at this forum aim to explore and identify potential areas of cooperation, matters of common interest, initiate, coordinate, monitor and control the approved cooperative activities. The 2001 agreement also led to the creation of the biennial Defence Ministers Dialogue. 

"Defence engagements between the two nations have diversified to include wide-ranging contacts between the services, military-to-military exchanges, high-level visits, capacity building and training programmes, cooperation in UN Peace Keeping, ship visits and bilateral exercises," the Ministry of Defence said. 

In 2018, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Indonesia, a new defence agreement was signed to reflect the elevation of the relationship between the two countries to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. 

There are regular exchanges between the three armed services of the two nations at the operational level. Additionally, they participate in joint military exercises which include Samudra Shakti (Navy) and Garuda Shakti (Army Special Forces).