India, Japan pledge military cooperation

India, Japan pledge military cooperation
New Delhi | May 25, 2006 9:06:19 PM IST

India and Japan on Thursday pledged to step up military cooperation through regular meetings between the Defence Chiefs and policy dialogues.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee on a week long visit to Japan and China, met Japanese Defence Agency Director-General Fukushiro Nukaga and signed an agreement to promote wide-range cooperation in the field of Defence and Security including in technical areas and training, reports said.

The two democracies share common goals of promoting "peace and stability in Asia and at the global level" and of countering terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction, a joint statement said.

New Delhi and Tokyo have called for greater military coordination including regular meetings between defence chiefs and a "defence policy dialogue" between the two nations.

Mukherjee is scheduled to meet Japan`s Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe on Friday.

Mukherjee will arrive in Beijing on Sunday for a five-day visit in which he will meet Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

During the four-day visit, India will seek friendly, cooperative, good neighbourly and mutually beneficial relations with China. Mukherjee had hinted this while addressing the Unified Commanders' Conference earlier. He asserted that friendly cooperation with Beijing is one of the priorities of our foreign policy.

"We are also seeking to address our differences, including the border issue, through peaceful dialogue, without allowing them to affect the comprehensive development of our relationship," Mukherjee said.

The two countries, sharing about 3,550-kilometre border, have fought a war over border disputes in 1962. (ANI)

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