Foreign Secretary Kwatra discusses bilateral ties with Japanese officials

Tokyo, Feb 8: Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Thursday met senior officials of the Japanese foreign ministry and exchanged views on ways to further expand the bilateral strategic ties, India-Japan cooperation in the shared Indo-Pacific region and global issues of common interest. Kwatra was on a two-day visit to Tokyo from Wednesday for Vice Ministerial Dialogue and Foreign Office Consultations with his counterparts in Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement in New Delhi.
During the visit, the foreign secretary held bilateral consultations with Masataka Okano, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, “reviewing the entire gamut of areas in India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership, including political relations, defence and security, trade, investment, technologies and people-to-people ties”, it said. Both sides agreed to expand both scope and depth of relations. They also discussed global issues of shared interest.
At the Foreign Office Consultations with Takehiro Funakoshi, Japan’s QUAD Sherpa and Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kwatra exchanged views on the regional situation and India-Japan cooperation in the shared Indo-Pacific region and other issues of common interest, the statement said. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad is a strategic four-nation bloc comprising Australia, India, Japan and the US that is widely viewed as a response to increased Chinese economic and military power in the Indo-Pacific region.
During the visit, Kwatra also met with other senior functionaries of the Japanese government, including from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Defence, and interacted with Japanese policymakers, thought-leaders, and corporate executives in a range of fields, it said. The visit helped prepare the ground for high-level bilateral exchanges and contributed to further strengthening the ties of friendship and cooperation between India and Japan, the statement said. (PTI)