India, Japan to strengthen defence cooperation

New Delhi: India and Japan on Saturday reaffirmed their determination to further strengthen bilateral defense cooperation between the two countries.

In the joint statement issued after summit-level talks held here between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, welcomed the decision of the two defense ministers to realize the visit of Indian Defense Minister to Japan. They also expressed their satisfaction over the Trilateral Dialogue between India, Japan and the United States, that has been held on a regular basis, and also on the 3rd two plus two dialogue and the 4th Defense Policy Dialogue which will be held this year. The two countries agreed to hold the 2nd meeting of India-Japan Bilateral Talks on Cyber-affairs in spring 2014 with a view to further exploring possible areas of cooperation. The two sides also welcomed the successful conduct of the second bilateral exercise between the Indian Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) in December 2013 off the coast of Chennai and shared their intention to conduct the joint exercise in the Pacific Ocean in 2014. They reaffirmed the importance of such exercises, and renewed their resolution to continue to conduct them on a regular basis with increased frequency. The expressed their satisfaction with the holding of the 1st meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on the US-2 amphibian aircraft in December 2013 in Delhi and agreed to hold the 2nd meeting of the JWG in March this year in Japan.