New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday thanked Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi for his warm regards and expressed readiness to further strengthen the deep-rooted partnership between the two nations.
Singh said that Koizumi’s warm regards were well-received during Belgium’s Minister of Defence and Foreign Trade Theo Francken’s visit to India.
“Thank you for the warm regards, my friend Shinjiro Koizumi! The message was well received, and duly reciprocated during Minister Theo Francken’s highly productive visit to India. Looking forward to further strengthening our deep-rooted partnership during my next visit to Japan,” Singh posted on X.
Singh’s statement came after Theo Francken conveyed Koizumi’s warm regards to India’s Defence Minister during their meeting in New Delhi on Thursday.
Koizumi shared the video of the meeting on X and wrote, “When I met Belgium’s Minister Theo Francken in Japan, I told him to please give my best regards to Minister Singh if he went to India. As a result, he ended up using the part where Minister Singh’s account mentioned me. This is also a product of the exchange between ministers. Minister Francken, Minister Rajnath Singh, thank you very much!”
In the video, Theo Francken said, “I am coming from Japan. Minister of Japan Koizumi…, he asked me to give you all the warm greetings and he sent me this morning a message, ‘don’t forget to give all my warm greetings to him’.”
In response, Rajnath Singh said, “Thank you very much.”
Last month, Koizumi was on an official visit to India, during which he held talks with Rajnath Singh. Following the meeting, Shinjiro Koizumi said that he will devote all his efforts to turning discussions into concrete outcomes.
“When the meeting concluded, Minister of Defence Singh put his arm around me and expressed his delight, saying, ‘It was a very fruitful meeting.’ We were able to make a new start in accelerating Japan-India defence cooperation. Moving forward, I will devote all my efforts to turning today’s discussions into concrete outcomes in order to further strengthen our personal trust relationship. Minister of Defence Singh, thank you very much,” noted Koizumi.
In a joint statement after the meeting, the two ministers stressed the importance of sharing assessments of the regional and international security environment amid heightened global tensions.
Recalling the Japan-India Joint Statement issued in July 2026, both Singh and Koizumi affirmed their commitment, under their leadership, to further deepen defence cooperation to realise a free and open Indo-Pacific.
The two ministers agreed to deepen operational cooperation in the field of maritime security in a practical and effective manner. They accordingly affirmed their commitment to strengthening Maritime Security Cooperation and signed the Memorandum of Arrangement on Maritime Security Cooperation.
(IANS)
