India, Japan and US agree to strengthen partnership for peace in Indo-Pacific region

New Delhi, April 4: India, Japan and the United States on Thursday held the 9th Trilateral Meeting at New Delhi in which all sides agreed to remain engaged and strengthen cooperation in support for a free, open, prosperous, peaceful and inclusive Indo-Pacific region through the partnership with countries in the region.

 

Notably, a Joint Secretary/Director General/Assistant Secretary level talks between India, Japan and the United States was held in New Delhi to hold consultations on regional and global issues of mutual interest. During the meet, officials reviewed the outcomes of the Trilateral Infrastructure Working Group that met in Washington in February and agreed to continue to collaborate to promote increased connectivity in the Indo-Pacific.

The External Affairs Ministry released a statement and said, “India, Japan and the United States held the 9th Trilateral Meeting at Joint Secretary/Director General/Assistant Secretary level in New Delhi on 4 April 2018 to hold consultations on regional and global issues of mutual interest.”

“In accordance with the directions received from their Foreign Ministers, who met in New York on 18 September 2017 on the margins of UNGA, the officials explored practical steps to enhance cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development; counter-proliferation; counter-terrorism; maritime security, maritime domain awareness and HA-DR,” the External Affairs Ministry added.

The statement further read that the officials reviewed the outcomes of the Trilateral Infrastructure Working Group that met in Washington in February and agreed to continue to collaborate to promote increased connectivity in the Indo-Pacific.

“All sides agreed to remain engaged and strengthen cooperation in support for a free, open, prosperous, peaceful and inclusive Indo-Pacific region through the partnership with countries in the region," the statement concluded.

Importantly, the high-level meeting comes amid ongoing trade war between China and the Trump administration that erupted after both sides imposed tariffs on each other’s goods.