India and Japan concur on increasing the scope of bilateral cooperation -

Tokyo: Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi held bilateral talks. Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had presented the proposal for Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative’ in the East Asia Summit. The announcement that Japan was willing to join the initiative was made after the meeting. Drafts of a few important agreements, between India and Japan, also were finalised during the meeting. These include agreements in the 5G technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity sectors.

The QUAD countries India, Japan, Australia and the United States met on Tuesday. After that, The Indian Foreign Minister held bilateral talks with Japanese and after that with the Australian Foreign Minister. Some important decisions were taken even during these meetings, identifying the Chinese threat. Both the countries concurred on making the cooperation more comprehensive, in the Indo-Pacific and other sectors, to strengthen strategic and universal cooperation, between India and Japan.

Agreements will soon be signed between India and Japan for increasing cooperation in the cybersecurity, infrastructure for the IT sector, 5G technology, AI Technology sectors. The drafts of the agreements were finalised during the meeting. Some countries, including the United States, have imposed sanctions against the Chinese Huawei company, charging it with espionage under the disguise of technology. A decision to keep the Chinese companies away from the markets also has been taken. At this time, the India-Japan cooperation in the 5G technology sector becomes significant.

The threat of cyberattacks is increasing and the countries like the United States, Australia and the European Union have become aggressive against the cyberattacks originating from China. Against this background, the India-Japan cooperation in the cybersecurity sector will be strengthened. The two countries will be cooperating, to stop cyberattacks and at the same time will be exchanging information regarding the cyberattacks.

Both countries also agreed on jointly working on projects in a third country. Reports had already been published that both the countries were keen on joint execution of some projects, in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bangladesh. Against this background, this decision becomes significant.