Why in news?
India - Japan Defence Ministerial Dialogue was recently held in Tokyo, Japan.
What are the highlights of the meet?
- India and Japan agreed to enhance the overall defence ties between the two countries.
- The agreement on enhancing exchanges between the two forces is likely to translate into more bilateral exercises.
- The meet could result in exchanges in the field of technology and equipment, furthering India's aim of increasing its domestic defence production.
- The meet stressed the importance of bilateral training interactions and is expected to consider Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) training in future to expand cooperation.
- Besides, the Defence Ministers also exchanged views on the security situation in the Indo-Pacific region.
- The defence dialogue carried a joint condemnation of North Korea's recent nuclear test.
- Also, the two sides expressed satisfaction on the recent India-US-Japan naval exercise, Malabar 2017.
- The Armies of both nations are expected to hold a joint exercise on anti-terrorism next year for the first time.
- Japan has also invited India to participate as an observer in a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) exercise held by Japan Ground Self Defence Force.
What lies ahead?
- India and Japan are witnessing a mutual, deeper and diversified bilateral defence cooperation.
- This is particularly after the signing of the bilateral Memorandum on Defence Co-operation and Exchanges, and two Defence Framework agreements in recent years.
- The recent dialogue has strengthened this existing cooperation and the outcomes are optimistic particularly with India's ambitions on domestic defence manufacturing.
Source: Business Standard
