2009-11-10 06:20:37 - Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and his Indian counterpart A.K. Antony agreed Monday to work out an action plan at an early date to advance security cooperation in areas such as maritime security and antiterrorism, a Japanese Defense Ministry official said.
Japan today reports.

India and Japan today agreed to step up Defence cooperation, including holding joint exercises, and expressed their commitment to contribute to bilateral and regional cooperation in areas like ASEAN Regional Forum, peacekeeping and disaster relief.This was stated in a joint press statement issued at the end of a meeting between Defence Minister A K Antony and his Japanese counterpart Toshimi

Kitazawa in Tokyo where they reviewed their existing bilateral defence cooperation.

Mr.Antony's three-day visit is the first by any Indian Cabinet Minister to Tokyo after the new Democratic Party of Japan government took over there.Condemning terrorism, the two sides stressed on the need to enhance cooperation in the fight against the menace.Mr. Antony and Mr. Kitazawa agreed to accelerate discussions to further promote Defence exchanges and cooperation through a Defence Action Plan, as envisaged between the Prime Ministers of the two countries in October last year.

The two sides also expressed commitment to contribute to bilateral and regional cooperation in areas like ASEAN Regional Forum, peacekeeping and disaster relief.
Piracy incidents off the Somalian coast and Gulf of Aden also came up for discussion and the two sides agreed to continue their efforts against it.

Mr. Masato Kitera, Director-General, International Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Japanese side and Mr. Kumar Sanjay Krishna, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on the Indian side, the Government of Japan agreed to extend an Official Development Assistance to India, in the form of soft loan equivalent to 2,606 million yen (approximately Rs.130 crore). The exchange of Notes to formalize the agreement to this effect was concluded on October 27th at a ceremony held in the Ministry of Finance in New Delhi.