External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said India and Japan must consider ways to enhance the quality of their economic cooperation in a world under flux.

In his remarks at the seventh India – Japan Indo-Pacific Forum and tenth India-Japan Track 1.5 Dialogue, he noted that Japan remains a key contributor to India’s economic development as the two countries strive to realise the target of five trillion-yen investment by 2027. ”However, trade figures remain below expectations,” he observed.

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Dr Jaishankar said the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership serves the cause of regional peace, international stability and global prosperity. ”It is a bilateral relationship of great trust and growing substance. But precisely because we have come so far in the last decade, it is important that we develop ambitious targets and work towards realising them,” he added.

He said the convergences between India and Japan are built on the alignment between India’s Act-East Policy, its Indo-Pacific vision of SAGAR, and Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Vision, as well as their shared support for the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). ”We also work together on the Indo-Pacific Oceans’ Initiative (IPOI), where Japan is to co-lead the Maritime Trade, Transport and Connectivity Pillar. As we expand common interests and forge new modes of collaboration, our strategic partnership will progress accordingly,” he added.

Dr Jaishankar said bilaterally, the Industrial Competitiveness Partnership, the Clean Energy Partnership and the Semiconductor Supply Chain Partnership reflect the contemporary agenda. Their goal is to promote reliable and resilient supply chains, trusted digital collaborations and secure green growth. He was confident that the two countries will continue to think boldly and act decisively to take it forward in an impactful way.

The foreign minister said there have also been greater frequency of defence exchanges and exercises, some breaking new ground. ”Moving to the next level including defence equipment and technology cooperation is the task that awaits us. We are both members of the Quad and the interactive dynamic between the larger environment and the bilateral relationship is a beneficial one,” he noted.

He was, however, of the view that the enormous goodwill between the two societies is yet to translate into intensive people-to-people connect. ”There is surely room to grow exchanges in education and tourism, or indeed in the movement of skilled workers. Recent initiatives from the Japanese side hold great promise and we look forward to realising them concretely in the near future,” he added.