INDIA JAPAN BILATERAL RELATIONS
1. Defence Cooperation India – Japan. Defence cooperation between India and Japan has been on a path of ascendancy with conduct of regular high level visits, exercises and dialogues. The Tokyo Declaration for India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership of Sep 14 and the Memorandum of Defence Cooperation and Exchanges, has provided significant impetus to our defence cooperation initiatives. During the Annual Summit in 2015, two key agreements on Defence Equipment and Technology Cooperation and Security of Classified Military Information were concluded. The signing of agreement concerning Reciprocal Provisions of Supplies and Services between the Indian Armed Forces and the Self Defense Forces of Japan on 09 Sep 2020, gave a new momentum to the existing relationship. The agreement was operationalised during MILAN 2022 in Mar 2022 and has been extensively utilised in all exercises and visits by ships, aircraft and contingents since. The existing Bilateral Mechanisms include Annual Defence Ministerial Mechanism (last conducted in May 2025), Defence Policy Dialogue (DPD) at the Defence Secretarial Level (7th edition conducted in New Delhi in Apr 2023), 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Meeting (3rd edition concluded in New Delhi in Aug 24) and Maritime Affairs Dialogue (7th edition undertaken in Tokyo in Apr 2025).
2. Defence Equipment and Technology Cooperation. A mechanism of Joint Working Group exists between the two countries to progress collaboration and cooperation in field of Defence Equipment and Technology. The JWG-DETC meets regularly and a total of seven meetings have been conducted to-date, with the last undertaken in New Delhi in Jun 2023. The first Business to Business interaction between Defence companies of India and Japan was held in Tokyo in Sep 17 and thereafter, visits of Japanese companies to Indian defence industry complexes was organised in 2018. The second forum of Indian and Japanese defence industries was held on the side-lines of Aero India 2019 at Bengaluru. The publishing of three important strategic documents in Dec 2022 & amendment of the “Three Principles for Transfer of Equipment and Technology” has opened up new opportunities for collaboration between India and Japan. The Embassy of India at Tokyo has also been facilitating interaction between companies & MSMEs involved in Defence Production between the two countries.
3. Services Exchanges. The Indian Armed Forces undertake regular Staff Talks with the Japan Self Defense Forces and the forum is effectively utilised to further enhance the defence cooperation and interoperability through conduct of bilateral exercises and Subject Matter Expert (SME) Exchanges between the respective Services. The Indian Navy and JMSDF interact bilaterally during Exercise JAIMEX every year in addition to operating in multilateral settings of Exercises MALABAR and MILAN. The Indian Air Force and JASDF interact during Exercise Veer Guardian and Shinyuu Maitri, in addition to several multilateral exercises which are conducted from time to time. The Indian Army and JGSDF undertake Exercise Dharma Guardian on a yearly basis and with every year the complexity of the exercise has been enhanced. In addition to the three Services, the Indian Coast Guard and Japan Coast Guard (JCG) also conduct yearly High Level Meetings (HLM), reciprocal ship visits, and exercises which involve pollution control and law enforcement drills. In 2023, the maiden Joint Services Staff Talks was held in Tokyo between the Joint Joint Staff and Headquarters of Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS), India. In addition to the exercises and Service to Service talks, the cooperation between the two countries is anchored in a dense and evolving network of multilateral constructs namely the IONS, WPNS, IORA, etc., where both countries play an important role. Regular high level interactions are also conducted by the respective Service to ensure better coordination and mutual understanding at the highest level.
