Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar are set to visit Tokyo next month to hold the next edition of the '2+2" dialogue with their Japanese counterparts, which is expected to cover a range of key issues including the situation in the Indo-Pacific, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday.
They said the '2+2' dialogue is planned for September 8. The dialogue is taking place over five months after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited India for the annual India-Japan summit.
At the summit in New Delhi, Kishida announced an investment target of five trillion Yen (Rs 3,20,000 crore) in India over the next five years.
In the 2+2 dialogue, the two sides are expected to deliberate on ways to further expand bilateral cooperation in the areas of defence and security besides taking stock of the developments in the Indo-Pacific, the people cited above said.
The Japanese delegation will be headed at the talks by Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada.
The dialogue is scheduled around three weeks ahead of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's state funeral on September 27 in Tokyo.
On Wednesday, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is planning to attend the funeral. However, there is no official confirmation about Modi's visit.
The '2+2' dialogue with Japan was initiated in 2019 to further deepen bilateral security and defence cooperation and bring greater depth to the special strategic and global partnership between the two countries.
India has the '2+2' ministerial format of dialogue with very few countries including the US, Japan, Australia and Russia.
