India and Japan on Thursday unveiled measures to enhance cooperation in defence, energy security, rare earths and AI and finalized a joint roadmap for economic security, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takachi stressed the importance of mutual trust strengthening bilateral ties in a world order facing increasing uncertainty.
On her first visit to India after becoming Prime Minister, Takaichi accompanied a high-level business delegation and joined Modi at the 16th annual India-Japan summit. The leaders also participated in a joint economic forum focused on promoting Japanese investment in India. In addition to agreeing on several steps to deepen defense cooperation, including joint development of military platforms, the two sides agreed to upgrade the trade agreement concluded in 2011.
Under Takaichi’s leadership, Japan has focused on strengthening ties with like-minded partners such as India, Australia and South Korea against the backdrop of China’s continued assertiveness across the region. According to a joint statement, Modi and Takachi expressed “serious concern” over the situation in the East China Sea and the South China Sea and opposed unilateral actions that threaten freedom of navigation as well as efforts to change the status quo by force.
At a joint media interaction after talks with Takaichi, Modi referred to his remarks at last month’s G7 summit about mutual trust being the greatest strategic asset in an environment of global uncertainty and said the India-Japan partnership “lives up to this principle in every respect”.
Takaichi said, “Amid chaotic international affairs, Japan and India must leverage their respective strengths to become stronger and more prosperous together. The establishment of such inter-complementary cooperative relations has become even more important.”
Modi said the measures agreed by both sides to broaden cooperation in defence, energy, trade and investment, AI, pharmaceuticals and shipbuilding will promote regional peace and prosperity. He called Takachi his “little sister”, and he responded by calling him his “big brother”.
Modi said, “In today’s era of uncertainty, India and Japan fully understand the importance of economic security and energy security. To this end, we have today adopted a joint roadmap on economic security.” He said this roadmap will strengthen supply chain resilience in strategic sectors such as semiconductors and advanced materials.
Takachi outlined three pillars at the heart of bilateral cooperation – deepening strategic cooperation to achieve common goals, including an alignment between their updated Free and Open Indo-Pacific policy and India’s ocean vision; Promote cooperation in economic security and energy security to overcome “economic weaponization” and build resilience in critical supply chains; and promoting economic growth in both countries through investment and innovation cooperation.
In the defence, government companies from both sides inked an agreement for the UNICORN, or Unified Complex Radio Antenna, project, which envisages joint development of a radio antenna for Indian warships. Officials said the agreement will include transfer of technology and the project will pave the way for joint development of air, land and sea systems, including unmanned vehicles.
According to the joint statement, both sides also agreed to expand cooperation in military exercises, maritime domain awareness using satellite capabilities and naval maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO). The Prime Ministers directed their Foreign and Defense Ministers to hold the fourth round of the 2+2 Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo by the end of the year.
Modi said the bilateral investment partnership has been growing steadily, with more than 100 new trade agreements concluded last year, paving the way for $10 billion in Japanese investment. “Our objective is clear – to attract 10 trillion yen of Japanese investment in India over the next 10 years and double the number of Japanese companies operating in India,” he said.
According to Indian government data, two-way trade is set to reach $27.5 billion in 2025-26, while Japanese investments in India stood at $3.2 billion between April and December 2025. Japan is one of India’s largest foreign investors and has supported major infrastructure projects in major cities, including metro networks and the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed railway.
The joint statement said the prime ministers reaffirmed the importance of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project as a major initiative, and Takachi said, “Japan fully understands India’s goal of starting commercial operations on prioritized segments in 2027 and is committed to enhancing necessary cooperation”.
The two sides acknowledged Japan’s goal of introducing the E10 bullet train and Modi invited Japanese companies to explore opportunities to participate in the development of the future high-speed corridor.
The joint statement said that more than 15 years after the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) by both the countries, India and Japan have agreed to accelerate the review of its implementation and make its full and effective use more forward-looking.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said at a media briefing that CEPA had become “somewhat outdated” in the context of new trade arrangements around the world. Misri said the Indian side proposed that the time has come to consider a significant upgrade of CEPA and Takachi said officials from both sides should meet to take next steps.
The Joint Declaration on Economic Security will promote project-based cooperation to enhance joint resilience in key sectors such as semiconductors, critical minerals, information and communication technologies including AI, clean energy and pharmaceuticals. This will involve both government-to-government and business-to-business cooperation.
Although the joint declaration did not name any countries, it was clear that many of the measures were designed with China’s recent actions in mind. Both sides expressed “serious concern” over the use of economic pressure and non-market practices, including “arbitrary export restrictions”, leading to supply chain disruptions, particularly for critical minerals.
In the context of China’s dominance in pharmaceuticals, both sides agreed to explore alternative supply chains for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and Key Starting Materials (KSMs), conduct vulnerability analysis and explore mutual cooperation to ensure stable supply of these commodities.
The Joint Statement on Energy Resilience will facilitate cooperation in strategic storage and reserve mechanisms for crude oil and petroleum products, and promote joint investment in the maritime energy transportation value chain. Takaichi said a bilateral dialogue would be initiated to strengthen India’s petroleum storage system and that Japan would support India’s membership in the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The Joint Statement on Cooperation in AI will extend cooperation in this area to strategic research and development partnerships. While building on the India-Japan AI Initiative, this statement serves as a roadmap for greater collaboration across the AI technology stack in line with the shared vision of safe, trustworthy, inclusive and human-centered AI.
The two sides finalized six memoranda of cooperation, including setting up 1,000 biogas and organic fertilizer plants across India by leveraging the network of dairy cooperatives; Establishing battery-related projects to create a resilient and sustainable battery supply chain; Strengthening the pharma supply chain through bilateral investment and trade relations; Promoting joint work in upstream critical mineral exploration; and promoting collaboration between the IndiaAI Mission and Japan’s GENIAC initiative through B2B matchmaking and joint projects.
The Memorandum of Cooperation on Next Generation Mobility Partnership (NGMP) will establish a framework to accelerate private sector-led cooperation and investment in rail, automotive and road infrastructure, aviation, shipbuilding and ports, logistics and urban development.
The two sides also signed five MoUs on research and innovation in deep technology and life sciences, biological and neurological research, cooperation on large language models (LLMs) with a focus on developing LLMs for advanced scientific reasoning and cooperation in national internet registry operations and internet security improvements.
