Tokyo: India has sought Japanese investments in its defence industry and market, in a bid to boost its ‘Make in India‘ initiative and foreign direct investment.

India’s Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh, who is on a two-day visit to Japan, met with his counterpart Takeshi Iwaya and later, the two minsiters reaffirmed their intention to deepen discussion between the Japanese Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA) and the Indian Department of Defence Production (DDP).

The ATLA-DDP discussions would focus on measures to promote active entry of Japanese defence industry into the Indian military market, which has a large potential in general as also in the newly established Defence Industrial Corridors in India.

The two ministers noted the importance of interaction between defence industry associations of Japan and India, according to a joint statement issued in Tokyo today.

They also shared the view that strengthening cooperation in the area of defence equipment and technology was essential for further accelerating the cooperation between Japan and India.

In this regard, the ministers welcomed the high-level exchanges between the ATLA and the DDP. These interactions have been actively held, including during the visit of the then Indian Defence Production Secretary and present day Defence Secretary, Dr Ajay Kumar’s visit to Japan in November 2018 and the visit of the Commissioner of ATLA to India in February 2019.

The two sides shared their views to accelerate the working-level efforts to hold the Fifth Joint Working Group on Defence Equipment and Technology Cooperation (JWG-DETC) as early as possible this year.

On the sidelines of AeroIndia-2019 at Bengaluru, India hosted the second Japan-India Defence Industry Forum in February 2019. Rajnath Singh also extended an invitation for the Japanese delegation to attend the DefExpo-2020 in India at Lucknow, the parliamentary constituency of the Indian defence minsiter.

The two nations also agreed to hold the first-ever Foreign and Defence Ministerial Dialogue (2+2) ahead of the India-Japan annual summit later this year, for advancing cooperation towards peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

The ministers welcomed that negotiations on the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) have shown progress since the announcement of the commencement of negotiations in the summit meeting in October last year.

The two ministers recognised that peace and stability of the Indian and Pacific Oceans are crucial for ensuring prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and the entire world, and had a frank exchange of views on the current security situation in the Indo-Pacific region, including developments on the Korean Peninsula and in the South China Sea.

They welcomed the steady progress in bilateral cooperation in the area of Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) based on the Implementing Arrangement for Deeper Cooperation between the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and the Indian Navy signed last year.

To read more: India-Japan Defence Joint Statement