Indo-Japan fighter aircraft exercise in Japan in 2020

NEW DELHI: India and Japan have agreed to add a new element to their growing defence partnership by holding joint fighter aircraft exercise in Japan in 2020. This was decided at the maiden 2+2 Foreign & Defence Minister Dialogue held here on Saturday.

The ministers also expressed their wish to further promote cooperation in the field of capacity building in maritime security and maritime domain awareness, including through cooperation with other countries, to ensure maritime safety in achieving a free, open, inclusive and rules-based Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of Chinese ambitions in the region. Japan will post a liaison officer at the Information Fusion Centre - Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) created by India in Gurgaon.

India and Japan have initiated bilateral exercises between all three components of their defence forces since last year. The ministers shared the view to make continuous efforts for holding bilateral exercises between the defence forces regularly and further expanding the same and welcomed the recently conducted second "Dharma Guardian-2019” and the second "SHINYUU Maitri-2019”.


They also concurred to proceed with coordination for the first India-Japan joint fighter aircraft exercise in Japan, according to the joint statement issued after the 2+2 meet held ahead of the annual summit next month.

The ministers welcomed the progress made in the negotiations of Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) since the announcement to begin the negotiations in October last year. They expressed their desire for early conclusion of the negotiations and felt that the agreement will further contribute to enhancing defence cooperation between the two sides.

The ministers exchanged views on the recent developments in the South China Sea in the backdrop of Beijing’s aggressive postures this year in the territorial waters of Vietnam. The two sides reaffirmed the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight, unimpeded lawful commerce and peaceful resolution of disputes with full respect for legal and diplomatic processes in accordance with the universally recognized principles of international law, including those reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).