Senior officials of India, Japan and the United States on Wednesday held consultations on regional, global issues and agreed to increase cooperation to ensure a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. At the meeting, the three strategic partners also resolved to deepen maritime cooperation and work together to deal with threats of nuclear proliferation and terrorism.

The 9th Trilateral Meeting at Joint Secretary/Director General/Assistant Secretary level took place in the backdrop of China's rising assertiveness in the region. "In accordance with the directions received from their Foreign Ministers, who met in New York on 18 September 2017 on the margins of UNGA, the officials explored practical steps to enhance cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development; counter-proliferation; counter-terrorism; maritime security, maritime domain awareness and HA-DR," Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. The officials reviewed the outcomes of the Trilateral Infrastructure Working Group that met in Washington in February and agreed to continue to collaborate to promote increased connectivity in the Indo-Pacific.

"All sides agreed to remain engaged and strengthen cooperation in support for a free, open, prosperous, peaceful and inclusive Indo-Pacific region through partnership with countries in the region," the statement added.

In November last year, India, the US, Australia and Japan had given shape to the long-pending Quadrilateral grouping to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of Chinese influence.

The US has been favouring a greater role by India in the Indo-Pacific region. US President Donald Trump while explaining his South Asia policy said that a critical part of it was to further develop the US's strategic partnership with India.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, Thursday, 05 April 2018 | PNS | New Delhi