India and Japan have elevated their strategic partnership by adopting a Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation, reinforcing a shared vision for a free, open, peaceful, and economically vibrant Indo-Pacific region grounded in the rule of law. The Joint Declaration was issued during PM Modi’s ongoing visit of Japan to attend the 15th Annual India-Japan summit.
Recalling the foundations of their Special Strategic and Global Partnership, both governments acknowledged the vital role their enhanced collaboration plays in safeguarding a rules-based international order.
Against a backdrop of evolving regional dynamics and growing global challenges, the two sides emphasized the alignment of their strategic outlooks and pledged to strengthen practical cooperation in defence and security, drawing on their complementary resources and technological strengths.
India and Japan expressed commitment to fostering deeper synergy and interoperability between their armed forces. This includes conducting increasingly complex bilateral exercises, reciprocal participation in multilateral drills, and exploring a formal comprehensive dialogue framework between their Joint Staffs. Plans were also laid out for tri-service exercises geared toward humanitarian and disaster relief operations, cooperation between special operations units, and enhanced logistical support through existing agreements.
Further commitments include collaboration in niche areas such as counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, cyber defence, chemical, biological, and radiological (CBR) threat mitigation, and shared maintenance facilities to boost readiness and resilience.
Recognizing the importance of maritime stability, both nations plan to increase port visits by naval and coast guard vessels and enhance maritime domain awareness through shared platforms such as the Information Fusion Centre–Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) and the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA). They also intend to coordinate to counter piracy and transnational crime, working through regional mechanisms like ReCAAP, and expand collaborations on disaster risk reduction in the maritime domain.
The declaration encourages robust industrial engagement in defence and security sectors through the Defence Equipment and Technology Cooperation framework. Initiatives include co-development and co-production of defence systems, industry exposure visits focused on start-ups and MSMEs, and mutual understanding of export controls to enable high-end technology exchange. Cooperation will also extend to military medicine, health security, defence R&D (notably between DRDO and Japan’s ATLA), and collaboration on critical minerals—including exploration, processing, and refining.
India and Japan pledged to preempt and address both traditional and non-traditional threats, including terrorism, digital securities, unmanned systems, and transnational crime. This includes bolstering intelligence sharing and launching joint R&D in cutting-edge fields such as AI, robotics, quantum technologies, semiconductors, future networks, biotechnology, and cybersecurity. Expanding space cooperation—ranging from navigation and earth observation to space situational awareness and debris tracking—also features prominently in the declaration.
The two countries reaffirmed commitments to multilateralism and regional stability. They pledged to support ASEAN centrality and frameworks like the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative and a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, promote sustainable infrastructure in the region, oppose coercive actions, and uphold maritime freedoms under international law. Strengthening cooperation within the Quad, reforming the United Nations Security Council with mutual support, combating terrorism, and pursuing non-proliferation efforts—including India’s entry into the NSG—are also key priorities.
To ensure robust follow-through, the declaration calls for reinforcing existing dialogue mechanisms. These include annual National Security Adviser consultations, Economic Security dialogues, high-level cross-services meetings between armed forces, coast guard commandant meetings, a rejuvenated India-Japan Defence Industry Forum, and track 1.5 think-tank exchanges.
The Joint Declaration marks a defining moment in India-Japan relations, reflecting a maturing strategic partnership extended from diplomatic goodwill to concrete, future-ready security collaboration. By addressing multifaceted threats, from maritime vulnerabilities to technological risks, and institutionalising high-level coordination, both nations have charted a robust course for enduring regional stability.
