New Delhi: India and Japan are seeking to reduce their dependence on a handful of countries for critical minerals while expanding defence cooperation, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said Thursday, outlining the strategic outcomes of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s visit to New Delhi.
At a briefing after talks between Prime Minister Modi and Takaichi, Misri said growing geopolitical uncertainty and repeated disruptions to global supply chains had pushed economic security to the centre of the bilateral relationship.
“It was agreed that… we have to move away from this dependence on a single or even very few sources, and that there was a need to develop both strategic autonomy and strategic resilience insofar as these topics are concerned,” Misri said.
Takaichi is in India for a three-day visit that began Wednesday. She will depart New Delhi Friday. The two prime ministers held the 16th India-Japan Annual Summit Thursday.
Among the most pressing concerns, Misri added, were rare earth elements and critical minerals, which underpin industries ranging from consumer electronics to electric vehicles and advanced defense systems.
“The ones related to critical minerals and rare earths are of particular concern, because these are essentially materials that today go into components and products that are critical for everyday life,” he said.
While governments have established the framework for cooperation, the foreign secretary said much of the work would be led by industry. “There is ongoing cooperation in, for instance, Japanese companies looking to set up rare earth permanent magnet facilities in India.”
Defense ties broaden
Defense cooperation also figured prominently in the discussions, reflecting Tokyo’s gradual shift toward a more outward-looking security posture.
“We obviously welcome the evolution of Japanese postures insofar as defence exports,” Misri said, adding, “There has been a considerable and, from our perspective, positive evolution on this issue.”
Prime Minister Modi proposed expanding collaboration “across the entire spectrum from designing to production and manufacturing”, Misri said.
The two countries reviewed progress on their ongoing naval radio antenna project and discussed cooperation spanning “land, air, naval systems, unmanned vehicles and systems of various kinds”.
India and Japan earlier announced the co-production of the UNICORN naval radio antennae, along with issuing a joint statement on artificial intelligence, and a joint roadmap for economic security.
The announcements of the various agreements were made following a bilateral meeting between Modi and Takaichi in the national capital.
The foreign secretary also pointed to the growing frequency of military exercises between the two countries.
“We have conducted naval exercises for a long period of time, and recently now, and in some cases for the first time ever, there are land exercises and army exercises and air force exercises as well that are being conducted,” he said.
The two leaders also agreed to strengthen institutional defense dialogue through the India-Japan 2+2 ministerial mechanism, which brings together the foreign and defence ministers of both countries. Tokyo will host the next meet.
Artificial intelligence and energy
The summit also produced agreements on artificial intelligence, with both governments issuing a joint statement emphasizing “safe, secure and trustworthy AI”.
Misri described artificial intelligence as “a major sunrise sector” in bilateral relations.
Among the initiatives announced were collaborations between India’s Sarvam AI and Japan’s Preferred Networks on foundational AI models, and between IIT Bombay and Japan’s National Institute of Informatics to develop multilingual scientific large language models.
The two countries agreed to cooperate on strategic petroleum reserves and maritime energy transport while launching the Japan-India Cooperative Biogas for Growth initiative, under which Japan will partner with India to establish 1,000 biogas plants across the country.
Expanding economic partnership
Economic ties remain at the heart of the relationship, with more than 120 business-to-business agreements signed since the previous annual summit in Tokyo, representing investment commitments worth approximately $10 billion.
The agreements span semiconductors, green ammonia, finance, manufacturing and advanced technologies. Misri said the breadth of the outcomes underscored the evolution of what India and Japan describe as a “special strategic and global partnership”.
“The deep complementarity between Indian and Japanese factors of production can lead to win-win outcomes and both sides can cooperate to really good effect,” he said.
Looking ahead, the two countries will celebrate 2027—the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations—as the ‘India-Japan Year of Shared Horizons’ with a series of youth-focused exchanges and commemorative events. Prime Minister Takaichi also invited Modi to visit Japan next year for the annual bilateral summit.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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