Japan, India to cooperate on antiterrorism, antipiracy

NEW DELHI, July 6 Kyodo -
Japan and India agreed on Tuesday to strengthen cooperation in antipiracy
operations in the Gulf of Aden in a decision taken at their first bilateral
''Two-Plus-Two'' high-level dialogue on security.
India's foreign ministry said in a statement that the two sides discussed
nontraditional threats to security and decided to hold the next meeting of the
India-Japan Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism at an early date.
It said the two sides also discussed holding joint naval exercises, and each
side provided the other with an exposition of its defense and security
policies.
Japan was represented in the talks by Deputy Foreign Minister Kenichiro Sasae
and Administrative Vice Defense Minister Kimito Nakae, while the Indian team
was led by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and Defense Secretary Pradeep Kumar.
The next round of India-Japan ''Two-Plus-Two Dialogue'' will be held in Tokyo
next year. The date has yet to be finalized.
The vice minister-level talks were agreed on last December by then Japanese
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh during
Hatoyama's visit to India.
Japan is the first country with which India has such a dialogue. Apart from
India, Japan has a similar dialogue with the United States and Australia.
==Kyodo