India, Japan unveil new initiatives on critical minerals, AI and defence ties

NEw young delhi: republic of india and nippon on fri unveiled new measures to advance cooperation in critical minerals, artificial intelligence (AI) and defence at a strategic dialogue between external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, which focused on ensuring economic security amid global geoeconomic headwinds.Under a bilateral economic security initiative, the two sides will arrange a dialogue between the private sectors of the two countries to identify challenges in critical minerals and energy. This will be followed by an economic security dialogue led by India’s foreign secretary and a Japanese vice minister in the first half of 2026 to enhance public-private cooperation, officials said.The two sides agreed to organise a meeting of a joint working group on critical minerals in early 2026 to take forward cooperation on rare earth elements, and they also launched an AI Dialogue to be led by officials of the foreign ministries to give a coherent push to engagement in this sector. Both are new initiatives, the officials said.India attaches “very great priority” to its economic and strategic ties with Japan and to working jointly in international forums such as the Quad, G4 and G20, Jaishankar said during his meeting with Motegi.Also Read: India-Japan partnership enhances Indo-Pacific strategic stability: Jaishankar“We are leading democracies, we are major economies of the world, and we have today not just an opportunity, but also an obligation, a duty, to shape the global order,” Jaishankar said. “And in the current uncertain global situation, it’s even more important that we work closely towards shared strategic goals.”Without directly referring to the fallout of US tariff policies, Jaishankar said both India and Japan attach enormous importance to economic security and to de-risking their economies.“So, we will be discussing resilient supply chains, critical minerals, and how to address energy, health and maritime security in our talks today.”Besides discussing supply chain resilience in critical sectors, the strategic dialogue focused on investment, trade, innovation, defence and people-to-people exchanges. Japanese foreign ministry spokesperson Toshihiro Kitamura told a media briefing that defence cooperation also figured in the talks. He described Japan’s move to transfer technology for the Unicorn (Unified Complex Radio Antenna) stealth antenna system to the Indian Navy for use on warships as a flagship defence project that could lead to further collaboration.Kitamura also said cooperation under the framework of the Quad could be one way of ensuring the US remains engaged in the Indo-Pacific. In his televised opening remarks at the meeting, Jaishankar noted that India’s vision for the Indo-Pacific aligns closely with Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” policy.Motegi also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his talks with Jaishankar.Kitamura said Japan’s efforts to work with India on developing the country’s northeastern states and the high-speed railway project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai also figured in the talks. Both sides “agreed to accelerate” the high-speed railway project, he said, noting that Japan will provide the latest Shinkansen technology for the venture.