India and Japan on Saturday held their first “2+2” dialogue involving their foreign ministers and defence ministers. In a joint statement, the two countries urged Pakistan to take “resolute and irreversible” action against terror networks and fully comply with international commitments.
The joint statement was issued after a meeting of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with Japanese Minister of Defence Taro Kono and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in New Delhi.
India and Japan also urged all countries to ensure that territories under their control is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other nations. They also made mention of threats posed to regional security by terrorist networks operating in Pakistan, and urged all countries take action to root out terrorist safe havens and eliminate funding channels for terrorism.
In a meeting with the visiting delegation earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the relationship between the two countries was a key component of India’s vision for peace, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
“The leaders discussed strengthening of the India-Japan bilateral strategic and defence cooperation enhancing peace and stability across the Indo-Pacific region,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Twitter.
Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe had decided on such a “2+2” framework during a summit in October 2018. India already has an arrangement for such a dialogue with the United States.
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