(Provisional translation by an external company for reference purpose only)
Today, I held the third Japan-India 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Meeting and the Japan-India Defense Ministerial Meeting. As the need for international cooperation in the areas of security and defense become more significant than ever before, the Ministry of Defense and Self-Defense Forces consider it vital to gain the understanding and cooperation of India, a major power in the Indian Ocean, in order to realize a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP).”
From this perspective, at the 2+2 and Defense Ministerial Meeting, we confirmed future cooperation with India and held further discussions, while reflecting on the progress of Japan-India defense cooperation and exchanges to date. With regard to bilateral security and defense cooperation, bilateral exercises in all components have been conducted beginning from the high-level exchanges between Chief of Staff, Joint Staff and Chief of Defence Staff of the Indian Armed Forces so far. We concurred to make them more complex and sophisticated, and to continue conducting them. In addition, we also reaffirmed the importance of defense cooperation and exchanges in the Indo-Pacific region not only between Japan and India but also through multilateral frameworks. Just as Tarang Shakti, the first multilateral fighter exercise hosted by the Indian Air Force, is scheduled to be held next week, on August 29. Coordination is currently ongoing for the Air Self-Defense Force to participate in this exercise, if realized, it would be the first air visit by Japanese fighters to India. As for defense equipment and technology cooperation, we appreciated the progress of the discussion among the defense authorities and corporations, targeting the transfer of Unified Complex Radio Antenna (UNICORN), and confirmed make it a trigger to further deepen defense equipment and technology cooperation between Japan and India. Regarding UNICORN transfer, I also announce that I, as the Minister of Defense, have already approved the adjustment plans for specifications and other details, including a grant of approximately 1.5 billion yen from the Defense Equipment Transfer Facilitation Fund. This will be the first grant of its kind from the fund we have established. Furthermore, we welcomed the Maritime Self Defense Force (MSDF) and the Indian Navy exploring cooperation in the area of ship maintenance in India, as this will contribute to improving interoperability and others between MSDF and the Indian Navy, and which may lead to improvement in flexible operation of MSDF vessels in the Indian Ocean. With regard to cooperation at the working-level, we also confirmed that we will continue to hold discussions not only at the high-level, but also at all levels. Therefore, through this visit, I was able to reaffirm that, with India, our cooperation and exchanges are progressing steadily, not only at the unit-to-unit level but also at the policy level. Leveraging the outcomes of this visit to India, I intend to further strengthen our relationship with India going forward, and to continue to closely coordinate toward the peace and stability of the region.