AJAY KAUL
India and Japan will have their first ‘2+2’ ministerial meeting before the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India in December for the annual summit. This was decided at a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Abe here on Thursday on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF). The ‘2+2’ is a format where Foreign Ministers and Defence Ministers of the two countries have a joint meeting to discuss strategic issues.
Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the Japanese Prime Minister referred to the recent visit by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Japan where substantive issues were discussed. Abe told Modi that those discussions could be taken forward during the Summit meeting in Delhi in December and there could be the possibility of concrete outcomes, Gokhale said. On Indo-Pacific region, apparently in the context of China flexing its muscle in the South China Sea, Modi and Abe were of the view that the region should have free and open movement for its economic progress and security. The two leaders also discussed issues related to Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) among 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its six partners — India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. (IANS)