Defence, security-related cooperation has emerged as important pillar of cooperation between India, Japan: Foreign Secretary Misri

New Delhi [India], August 26 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to Japan from August 29 during which he will take part in the Annual Summit with his Japanese counterpart Shigeru Ishiba with the two leaders slated to review bilateral ties which have expanded in scope and ambition over the last decade and include trade and investment, defense and security, science and technology, infrastructure and mobility and cultural engagement.

At a special media briefing on PM Modi's visit to Japan and later to China for the SCO Summit, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that defence and security-related cooperation has emerged as an important pillar of cooperation between India and Japan.

"This has indeed emerged as an important pillar of cooperation between the two countries in recent years. There was a meeting between the defense ministers of the two countries that was held just recently in May of this year, where the two sides were able to review a whole host of issues, operational engagements between the two sides. But more importantly, defence equipment and technology collaboration, which is an important part of the overall defence and security engagement between the two sides," he said.

"I think there was some interest in specific platforms. The two countries are already working on co-developing the Unified Complex Radio Antenna, the UNICORN project, which is a common radar mast for use by Indian Navy platforms. A memorandum of implementation for this particular project was signed in November 2024. The Indian Navy, and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force are also exploring possible cooperation in the area of ship maintenance in India," he added.

The Foreign Secretary said discussions going on a number of other issues between the designated agencies of the two sides, DRDO in India and ATLA in Japan.

"These discussions are regular and the agenda is constantly being refreshed, and they remain engaged on it," he said.

Misri said India and Japan are two countries that share values, trust, and strategic outlook on several issues.

"They are two of Asia's leading democracies and amongst the top five world economies," Misri said.

It will be Prime Minister Modi's first Annual Summit with Prime Minister Ishiba and it will also be his first standalone visit to Japan in nearly seven years.

"This is also Prime Minister's eighth visit to Japan since he took office in 2014, and reflects the very high priority that this particular relationship has in our foreign relations," Misri said.

Speaking on the collaboration in the space domain, Misri highlighted the collaboration between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Japanese Space Agency on the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX), pursued alongside India's Chandrayaan-5 mission.

"The ISRO and the Japanese Space Agency are working together on something called LUPEX, which is the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission. And this is being pursued in tandem with India's Chandrayaan-5 mission. This is an area of some importance also because it affords an avenue for Indian space startups to actually deploy their capabilities and their capacities in this important area," Misri stated.

Misri also underscored the significance of the Quad framework, comprising India, Japan, Australia, and the US, as a key platform for promoting a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

"The Quad is indeed an important platform for working on and promoting peace, stability, prosperity, and development in the Indo-Pacific region," he said.

"In more recent years, its agenda has expanded to take on issues of practical cooperation, if I can call it that, and health security. It covers critical and emerging technologies. There's an initiative with regard to critical minerals that has been discussed recently. Overall, with regard to how to make supply chains more resilient, and also infrastructure development. So, these are all issues that are a priority, both for India and for Japan. Both our countries attach high value to this forum and to this partnership," Misri added.

The annual summit between India and Japan represents the highest level dialogue mechanism that exists between the two countries, and it drives the agenda of the India-Japan special strategic and global partnership.

Misri said India and Japan share values, trust, and strategic outlook on several issues.

He said the annual summit will also be an opportunity to launch several new initiatives in order to build greater resilience in the relationship, and to respond to emerging opportunities and challenges.

The Foreign Secretary said one of the features of the annual summit between India and Japan is an engagement between the two leaders outside the capital.

"On this occasion as well, the programme includes a visit outside Tokyo, which is again going to be something to look forward to for the two leaders. The programme also includes interactions of the Prime Minister with several other political leaders from Japan, as also with friends of India," he said.

"The Prime Minister will also participate in a business leaders' forum with captains of Japanese and Indian industry. These interactions are aimed at deepening the very important trade, investment and technology relationship between the two countries," he added.

Misri said there has been in recent years an intensification of the engagement between Indian states and Japanese prefectures, and an engagement focused on this particular aspect has also been planned for during the visit.

"Overall, the visit will consolidate our long-standing friendship. It will open fresh avenues of cooperation, and reaffirm our shared commitment to peace, prosperity and stability, both for the two countries as well as in our shared Indo-Pacific region and beyond," he said.

From Japan, PM Modi will visit Tianjin, China for the 25th meeting of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Council, the SCO, on August 31 and September 1 at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Briefing about the visit, Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West), MEA, said the SCO was established with the primary goal of countering three evils of terrorism, separatism, and extremism, which continue to remain a challenge.

"Today, as a regional platform, there is a broader range of sectors of cooperation among the SCO members," he said.

The SCO comprises 10 members. In addition to India, they include Belarus, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. There are a number of dialogue partners and observers also.

India has been a member of the SCO since 2017, and earlier it was an observer since 2005. During the period of its membership, India has held the chair of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in 2020 and of the SCO Council of Heads of State during 2022-2023. India engages actively with various institutional processes and mechanisms of the SCO, and participates in the ministerial meetings and other dialogue formats.

Prime Minister Modi has participated in various previous SCO summits in 2018 in Qingdao; 2019 in Bishkek; 2020 in Moscow in virtual format; 2021 in Dushanbe in virtual format; 2022 in Tashkent; 2023 in New Delhi in virtual format; and in 2024, the Astana Summit, External Affairs Minister had represented the Prime Minister.

The theme of the 23rd SCO Summit, which was chaired by Prime Minister Modi, was towards a 'SECURE' SCO, and here the SECURE stands for Security, Economy and Trade, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity, and Environment. So this gives an idea of the range of issues that are of priority for India in the SCO.

Tanmaya Lal said that during India's presidency in 2023, the SCO had adopted a Joint Statement on cooperation on countering radicalization leading to separatism, extremism, and terrorism. During the presidency, India had also focused on a very broad based, and diverse areas of cooperation that are of interest to SCO members. These practical areas of cooperation include, for instance, startups and innovation, traditional medicine, youth empowerment, digital inclusion and shared Buddhist heritage.

He said security cooperation remains one of the important areas of focus for India, and India had chaired the SCO RATS council during 2021-2022.

In May this year, the ICWA had hosted a 20th SCO forum in New Delhi on the theme SECURE SCO. In recent months, India has participated at the ministerial and senior levels in several ongoing processes of the SCO.

He said programme elements for the upcoming 25th SCO summit in Tianjin include a welcome banquet dinner in the evening of August 31, and the main summit will be held on the next day.

Prime Minister is likely to hold some bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

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