India, Japan explore joint naval shipbuilding, design

India and Japan will explore joint development in naval shipbuilding and design, leveraging Japan’s technological expertise and India’s production capabilities. The two countries also agreed to strengthen maritime security cooperation, ship repair, naval exercises and information sharing.

Kolkata: India and Japan will explore the possibility of joint development in naval shipbuilding and design by leveraging Japan’s technological expertise and India’s production capabilities in accordance with their respective relevant policies.

This was announced in a joint statement issued by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi after a bilateral meeting in New Delhi on Thursday.

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The use of India’s production capabilities by Japan under the “Make in India” framework was also discussed.

This comes at a time when India is laying stress on further developing both Naval and commercial shipbuilding capabilities at its shipyards.

New shipyards are also being planned.

Japan ranks third among the shipbuilding nations in the world with a share of nearly 11 per cent.

India has set a steep target of building five per cent of the world’s fleet by 2035 and making it to the list of the top five shipbuilding nations by 2047.

The two Ministers affirmed their commitment to strengthening maritime security cooperation and signed the Memorandum of Arrangement on the matter between the Ministries of Defence of the two nations.

“The Memorandum provides a framework for further advancing cooperation between the two countries in the field of maritime security. Specifically, it includes the strengthening of cooperation between the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Indian Navy, including information sharing in the field of Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), as well as enhanced cooperation in areas such as Search and Rescue (SAR) and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR),” the joint statement said.

The Ministers also spoke on strengthening coordination for the protection of sea lines of communications through mutual visits by naval ships and units, joint exercises, personnel and Subject Matter Expert (SME) exchanges and logistical support, including use of ports, maintenance and repair facilities.

Such cooperation is vital not only to Japan and India, but also to the region and the international community.

“The two Ministers concurred on moving swiftly to realise concrete maritime security cooperation that serves the strategic and operational needs. They further shared the view that both sides should maximise synergies to enhance mine countermeasures capabilities,” it said.

Reciprocal provision of ship repair facilities, including the conclusion of ship repair arrangement in the near future, was also discussed.

“The two Ministers welcomed the steady expansion and deepening of bilateral exercises conducted by Japan and India, including the Japan-India Army exercise ‘Dharma Guardian’ and the Japan-India Maritime Exercise “JAIMEX”. They particularly welcomed the steady progress in coordination for the Japan-India Air Force exercise “Veer Guardian 26″, scheduled to be held this year, under which Japan Air Self-Defence Force fighter aircraft will, for the first time, visit India and participate in the exercise. The two Ministers concurred on further deepening cooperation in bilateral exercises through enhanced complexities, integration of unmanned systems and pursuing joint exercises at short notice, whenever the opportunities arise,” the statement said.