India, Japan sign maritime security pact as defense chiefs meet in New Delhi

Ahmad Adil

India and Japan signed a maritime security cooperation pact Thursday aimed at strengthening information sharing and operational cooperation as their defense ministers met in New Delhi.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh hosted his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi in the Indian capital, where they signed a Memorandum of Arrangement on Maritime Security Cooperation, according to a joint statement released by New Delhi.

The agreement provides a framework for expanding maritime security cooperation between the two countries, including information sharing, search and rescue operations, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

They also agreed to move quickly toward implementing concrete cooperation that meets the countries’ “strategic and operational needs,” the statement said.

Singh and Koizumi agreed on the “importance of sharing assessments of the regional and international security environment between the two countries at a time of heightened global tensions.”

They expressed “strong opposition to any unilateral actions that impede freedom and safety of navigation and overflight, as well as to any attempts to change the status-quo by force or coercion.”

The two sides also welcomed the strengthening of defense ties between their ministries and armed forces under the Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership, which they described as a pillar of peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.

Koizumi is on a two-day visit to India.

India and Japan, along with the US and Australia, are members of the Quad, a strategic grouping focused on cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.