New Delhi: India and Japan are going to hold their first-ever 2+2 ministerial dialogue later this year with an aim to advance towards ensuring peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
The decision to hold the ministerial dialogue was taken during a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, Thursday.
The 2+2 format of talks is when foreign and defence ministers of two countries jointly discuss issues pertaining to each other’s strategic and security interests. As of now, the US is the only country with which India has established such a dialogue.
“Both leaders have agreed that the first 2+2 ministerial meeting i.e. the Foreign and Defence Ministers of the two countries will have a meeting, preferably before the annual summit,” Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said Thursday.
The India-Japan annual summit will take place in December, Gokhale said.
According to sources, the 2+2 meeting between India and Japan may be held in October. The main agenda will be discussing the Indo-Pacific region and how both sides can establish a mechanism in the region.
The decision to hold the 2+2 talks was firmed up during Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to Japan earlier this week when both sides resolved to take the bilateral-strategic relationship to the next level.
Gokhale said “substantive issues” were discussed during Singh’s visit.
“My visit to Japan has been remarkable and successful in many ways. This visit has reiterated our Prime Ministers’ unwavering commitment to working together towards a vision for Indo-Pacific region,” Singh had said in a tweet.
“During this visit, India-Japan’s desire to further deepen the strategic and defence cooperation between both the countries and take it to the next level was clearly underlined,” he said in another tweet.
Japan, America and India, also known as ‘JAI’, are engaged in a trilateral dialogue that is aimed at achieving security, connectivity and infrastructure development in the Indo-Pacific region. There have been two ‘JAI’ meetings so far — one in Osaka, Japan, in June, and in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December last year.
Japan and India have also joined hands to develop a port in Sri Lanka as well as for infrastructure and connectivity development in African countries.
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Defence, energy ties
India is also in talks with Japan to procure 12 ShinMaywa US-2i amphibious and rescue aircraft as part of $1.65-billion deal of the Indian Navy. Although talks on the deal began in 2011, it got a renewed push during Modi’s first visit to Japan as PM in 2014.
However, both sides have not been able to sign the deal yet due to hurdles in price negotiations.
India and Japan are also facing issues in finalising a civil nuclear deal. While the agreement came into force in 2017, the commercial talks are stuck over India’s nuclear liability law.
During Modi’s meeting with Abe, Japan has asked India to move fast on the ongoing Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) talks — a mega trade pact in which Tokyo is also a member.
Also read: India, Japan hold annual defence talks, resolve to strengthen strategic ties
The chill with China is deepening.