India, Japan boost AI, minerals & defence ties in Tokyo talks
India, Japan boost AI, minerals & defence ties in Tokyo talks
New collaborations on critical minerals, AI and defence aim to strengthen economic security amid global headwinds.
India and Japan on Friday unveiled new measures to advance cooperation in critical minerals, artificial intelligence and defence at a strategic dialogue between external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi in Tokyo. The talks focused on strengthening economic security amid global geoeconomic headwinds and a push to diversify and de-risk supply chains.
Under a bilateral economic security initiative, the two sides will set up a dialogue between the private sectors of both 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 boost public-private cooperation.
A joint working group on critical minerals is slated to meet in early 2026 to advance cooperation on rare earth elements, while an AI Dialogue was launched to give a coherent push to engagement in the artificial intelligence sector.
Jaishankar highlighted India's very great priority on its economic and strategic ties with Japan and the importance of working together in international forums like Quad, G4 and G20. He spoke of democracies with a duty to shape the global order and noted the need to discuss resilient supply chains, energy, health and maritime security in the current uncertain global environment.
Together, officials said, these initiatives signal a broad, pragmatic push to deepen economic security through public-private collaboration, signalling a stronger Indo-Japanese partnership in a shifting global landscape.
