New Delhi: India and Japan on Thursday agreed on the need for new steps to prepare the bilateral relationship to respond to emerging geopolitical and geo-economic trends as external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa held talks in Tokyo.

The two sides have made good progress in defence and security ties, Jaishankar told a media interaction, noting that the Indian Army is currently conducting a joint exercise with Japan’s Self-Defense Force in Rajasthan. The three services and the Coast Guard of the two countries are engaging with greater ease through a new arrangement on reciprocal access to logistics, he said.

“We agreed on the need for new steps…to make this relationship prepared for, and responsive to, the emerging geopolitical, geo-economic and geo-technological trends…,” Jaishankar said.

There were exchanges regarding cooperation in the areas of military jointness and new domains such as cyber and space. The two sides also took stock of progress in their defence equipment and technology cooperation framework, he said.

Jaishankar said there is a lot of potential in economic cooperation for a “quantum jump of Japanese investment into India, especially from SMEs”. The two sides are working to achieve the shared target of five trillion yen in overall investments.

In the context of India’s commitment to the improvement of infrastructure, Jaishankar emphasised the importance attached to the timely execution of flagship projects such as the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed railway. He also welcomed Japan’s development role in India’s northeastern states, saying this will be crucial in transforming connectivity and industry in that region.

“It will benefit not only our two countries but also other countries in the neighbourhood through a network of forward and backward linkages. We further agreed to explore coordinated development partnership initiatives by our agencies in third countries,” he said.

“We also concurred on the need to work together to enhance each other’s economic security and supply chain resilience by taking a strategic view of trade and technology. In this context, we discussed possibilities in the semiconductor ecosystem, green technologies and digital payments by leveraging our complementary strengths,” he added.

Jaishankar said he had spoken to Kamikawa about the need for a “more facilitative visa regime” for Indian tourists and other citizens travelling to Japan. “We also discussed the shared interest we had in providing greater avenues of mobility for Indian talent and Indian skills to Japan,” he said.