FIRST JAPAN-INDIA 2+2 FOREIGN AND DEFENCE MINISTERIAL MEETING

Japanese Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Defence visited India this week for the first Japan-India 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Meeting. During the meeting with their counterparts, the Ministers affirmed that this dialogue would further enhance the strategic depth of bilateral security and defence cooperation. While acknowledging emerging security challenges, the Ministers reiterated their commitment to advancing bilateral security cooperation based on the 2008 Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation and the 2009 Action Plan to advance Security Cooperation. Recalling that the two sides had a shared vision of a free, open, inclusive and rules-based Indo-Pacific region, and all countries enjoy freedom of navigation and overflight, they emphasized that further strengthening of bilateral cooperation was in mutual interest of both countries and would also help in furthering the cause of the peace, security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.