India, Japan will upgrade talks to ministerial level.

NEW DELHI: In a major fillip to their strategic partnership, India and Japan are working to upgrade their 2+2 dialogue mechanism to the ministerial level ahead of PM Narendra Modi's visit to Tokyo.

Under this enhanced dialogue framework, the foreign and defence ministers will together hold annual consultations with their Japanese counterparts over a range of overlapping security and political issues. The 2+2 was launched in 2010 but only at the secretary-vice minister level.

The negotiations, which are likely to conclude before Modi lands in Tokyo on September 31, follow assertions by Japan PM Shinzo Abe in the recent past that the 2 countries needed to deepen their engagement over political and security related issues.

India and Japan have an annual strategic dialogue since 2007 but the 2+2, a format unique to India, was launched 3 years later to intensify strategic cooperation. Japan has the same dialogue with only a few countries including the US and Russia.

Sources here said the negotiations for an upgraded dialogue framework are underway and are likely to end by the time Modi has his summit meeting with Abe. "This is in keeping with the geopolitical reality that India and Japan look at each other as crucial partners for ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region," said a source.

This, in fact, could be one of the highlights of Modi's visit to Tokyo as Indian presses Japan for a "successful and substantive" visit. India in the recent past has been concerned over the delay in signing a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Japan. Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj vented the sentiment before her counterpart Fumio Kishida when she told him during a recent meeting in Myanmar that the 4-year-old negotiations for the same needed to be taken to their logical conclusion.

India and Japan are also looking to conclude negotiations for the sale of US-2 amphibian aircraft to India. As it seeks a more significant security role in the region, in the face of Chinese assertiveness, Japan earlier this year eased its self-imposed ban on export of arms and transfer of defence technology. According to reports in the Japanese media, it may allow India to manufacture parts of the aircraft to facilitate the agreement.

The Modi-Abe summit will also be closely watched in Beijing with Modi set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping weeks after his return from Tokyo. The dispute with China over Senkaku (China calls it Diaoyu) islands and threat from a nuclear armed North Korea forced Japan to create its own National Security Council last year. India acknowledged the development earlier this year when it launched regular consultations between the Secretary-General of National Security Secretariat of Japan and its National Security Advisor.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com