India, Japan to ink security cooperation agreement: Sources

“We have made steady progress on this issue,” they said, noting that there have been high-level exchanges between the two countries with the two sides also engaging in counter-terrorism talks.

Earlier, Prime Minister Singh said he considered India’s ties with Japan as one of the most important bilateral relationships of the country.

“A strong India-Japan relationship will play a significant role in the emerging Asian security architecture and will contribute to the peace, stability and prosperity of Asia and the world,” Singh had said in his departure statement.

Official sources said India-Japan security cooperation has moved very fast since the two nations decided to upgrade their ties to strategic levels in 2006.

A Joint Statement issued during the then Defence Minister Pranab Mukerjee’s visit to Japan in May 2006 had put in place a structured framework for a dialogue for cooperation and exchanges.

The Secretary-level Defence Policy Dialogue has held its first round of discussions in April 2007 and a second round is likely to be held later this year in Delhi.

Both sides also signed a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Coast Guards in November 2006.

Japanese Defence Minister Y Koike visited India in August 2007 and the fifth meeting of the Comprehensive Security Dialogue was held in Tokyo in February this year.

The second meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counter-terrorism was held in New Delhi in December 2007, an official source said.

A calendar of events for 2008 has been finalised for promoting defence exchanges and cooperation in an institutionalised framework, the source said.