India - Japan Defence Ministerial Dialogue was recently held in Tokyo, Japan.
What are the highlights of the meet?
India and Japan agreed to enhance the overall defence ties between the two countries.
The agreement on enhancing exchanges between the two forces is likely to translate into more bilateral exercises.
The meet could result in exchanges in the field of technology and equipment, furthering India's aim of increasing its domestic defence production.
The meet stressed the importance of bilateral training interactions and is expected to consider Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) training in future to expand cooperation.
Besides, the Defence Ministers also exchanged views on the security situation in the Indo-Pacific region.
The defence dialogue carried a joint condemnation of North Korea's recent nuclear test.
Also, the two sides expressed satisfaction on the recent India-US-Japan naval exercise, Malabar 2017.
The Armies of both nations are expected to hold a joint exercise on anti-terrorism next year for the first time.
Japan has also invited India to participate as an observer in a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) exercise held by Japan Ground Self Defence Force.
What lies ahead?
India and Japan are witnessing a mutual, deeper and diversified bilateral defence cooperation.
This is particularly after the signing of the bilateral Memorandum on Defence Co-operation and Exchanges, and two Defence Framework agreements in recent years.
The recent dialogue has strengthened this existing cooperation and the outcomes are optimistic particularly with India's ambitions on domestic defence manufacturing.
