India keen to source defence technologies from Japan: Arun Jaitley

TOKYO: India is looking to strengthen its military cooperation with Japan and is interested in sourcing defence technologies for domestic manufacture of arms and equipment, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said.

Jaitley, who yesterday met his Japanese counterpart Tomomi Inada, said India and Japan "a very strong relationship between (their) defence forces" and the two nations will pursue strategic partnership for regional peace and stability.

"There have been training and naval exercises. There is a lot of cooperation that takes place (between the two nations)," he told PTI in an interview here.

He said India is looking at Japanese technology for local manufacturing of defence equipment.

"Japan has a lot of defence technologies and India of course, has a great use of these technologies because we are attempting to have local manufacturing in India," he said.

India and Japan, he said, are looking at business-to- business cooperation.

This cooperation would be "both for the purposes of India buying (from Japan) and any possibility of India domestically manufacturing with their technologies."

Jaitley, who is also the Finance Minister, yesterday wrapped up a three-day visit to Japan where he attended an annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank and investor meets.

According to an AP report on his meeting with Japanese defence minister, he welcomed a planned trilateral naval exercise among the US, India and Japan in July as a way of strengthening cooperation in the Asia-Pacific.

"This is all reflective of the level of cooperation our armed forces have with each other," he said.

His visit to Japan, a staunch US ally, comes amid rising tension in the region

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sought to expand Japan's defence role and capability amid security concerns over China and North Korea, according to AP.