Jaishankar receives a memento from Motegi in New Delhi on Friday (IANS photo)
NEW DELHI: Foreign minister S Jaishankar and his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi Friday chaired the 18th India-Japan strategic dialogue that saw both sides agreeing to boost cooperation in AI and critical minerals while seeking enhanced engagement on issues related to South Asia, West Asia and Africa and reaffirming their commitment to development of India’s northeast. Among the significant outcomes was a decision to establish a Japan-India AI strategic dialogue and to ramp up dialogue both between the private sectors and govts on issues related to economic security. Jaishankar and Motegi, who called on PM Narendra Modi in the morning, also decided to convene the joint working group on critical minerals early this year under the economic security initiative to advance collaboration in the fields of rare earths and critical minerals, according to the MEA.Both sides agreed to expedite the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train (Shinkansen) project and Japan reiterated its commitment to supply India with the next-gen E10 Shinkansen train. According to Japan, the AI initiative is aimed at achieving innovation and growth. There was focus on also boosting startup cooperation through a support initiative.The ministers discussed resilient supply chains, critical minerals, defence and discussed ways to address energy, health, and maritime security. “Economic security today is particularly paramount. I think both our countries attach enormous importance to it, and how to de-risk our own economies, and how to de-risk the international economy are both very important,” said Jaishankar.Amid uncertainty over Quad, Jaishankar told Motegi India att-ached highest priority to working with Japan in forums like Quad, UN, G4 and G20. “We are leading democracies, we are the major economies of the world, and we have today not just an opportunity, but also an obligation, a duty to shape the global order, and in the current uncertain global situation, it’s even more important that we work closely towards shared strategic goals,” said Jaishankar.Japan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Toshihiro Kitamura said that “in order to have the engagement of the US in this region, we believe that Quad is a very important framework to facilitate such cooperation”. Japan expressed interest in quickly formalising the deal to supply the Indian Navy with Unified Complex Radio Antenna.
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