Tokyo: Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra Thursday met senior officials of the Japanese foreign ministry and exchanged views on ways to further expand the bilateral strategic ties, India-Japan cooperation in the shared Indo-Pacific region and global issues of common interest.
Kwatra was on a two-day visit to Tokyo from Wednesday for Vice Ministerial Dialogue and Foreign Office Consultations with his counterparts in Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement in New Delhi.
During the visit, the foreign secretary held bilateral consultations with Masataka Okano, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, “reviewing the entire gamut of areas in India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership, including political relations, defence and security, trade, investment, technologies and people-to-people ties”, it said.
Both sides agreed to expand both scope and depth of relations. They also discussed global issues of shared interest.
At the Foreign Office Consultations with Takehiro Funakoshi, Japan’s QUAD Sherpa and Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kwatra exchanged views on the regional situation and India-Japan cooperation in the shared Indo-Pacific region and other issues of common interest, the statement said.
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad is a strategic four-nation bloc comprising Australia, India, Japan and the US that is widely viewed as a response to increased Chinese economic and military power in the Indo-Pacific region.
During the visit, Kwatra also met with other senior functionaries of the Japanese government, including from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Defence, and interacted with Japanese policymakers, thought-leaders, and corporate executives in a range of fields, it said.
The visit helped prepare the ground for high-level bilateral exchanges and contributed to further strengthening the ties of friendship and cooperation between India and Japan, the statement said.
Earlier, in a series of posts on X, the Indian Embassy in Japan shared updates about the foreign secretary’s meetings with the Japanese officials along with photographs.
Kwatra met Okano during which they held a comprehensive dialogue on the “entire gamut of bilateral relations, taking stock of 10 years of Special Strategic & Global Partnership and discussing global issues of mutual interest and concern”, it said.
Kwatra met Funakoshi and “they exchanged views on regional situation and India-Japan cooperation in the shared Indo-Pacific region & other issues of common interest,” the embassy said.
The foreign secretary also discussed semiconductor co-creation opportunities in India with Tetsuro Higashi, Chairman of Rapidus and Atsuyoshi Koike, President of Rapidus.
On Wednesday, Kwatra held discussions with Shin Hosaka, Vice Minister of International Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, during which they agreed to facilitate bilateral trade and investment, build resilient supply chains and promote collaboration in critical and emerging technologies, the embassy said.
He also met Kiyoshi Serizawa, Vice Minister of International Affairs, Ministry of Defence, and took stock of ever-deepening India-Japan defence and security cooperation.
PTI