External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday, 25 May held bilateral talks with visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in New Delhi, a day before the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting. The discussions centred on the India-Japan special strategic and global partnership, the situation in West Asia, and the growing importance of economic security for major trading nations.

Key Themes of the Bilateral

Jaishankar underscored that the bilateral relationship carries implications well beyond the two countries. 'Between India and Japan of course, we have a special strategic and global partnership and that signals that our ties have a larger implication, larger importance, larger impact,' he said in his opening remarks. He pointed to the next day's Quad meeting as a concrete expression of that shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific.

On the global situation, Jaishankar flagged West Asia as a priority area given that both nations are large energy importers and major trading powers with significant maritime interests. He also raised economic security as a theme of rising urgency for all major economies — a signal of how supply-chain resilience and technology access have moved to the centre of diplomatic agendas.

What Motegi Said

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi characterised the current moment as the most significant structural shift in the post-war international order, driven by changing power balances and intensifying conflicts. He recalled Jaishankar's remarks at the Foreign Ministerial Strategic Dialogue in January, where the Indian minister had argued that Japan and India share not just opportunities but an 'obligation and responsibility to shape the international order.'

Motegi also outlined Japan's updated Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) framework, noting that he and Prime Minister Takaichi had delivered policy speeches on the update in Vietnam and Kenya respectively earlier in the month. The revised FOIP, he said, aims to help countries build resilience and self-determination across economic, social, and security domains — with Japan and India positioned as the 'driving force' of the initiative.

Officials Present and Diplomatic Context

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Japan's Ambassador to India Ono Keiichi, and other senior officials attended the meeting. Jaishankar noted that the two ministers had previously met in France in March and in New Delhi earlier this year, reflecting the pace of high-level engagement between the two capitals.

Motegi, speaking before departing Tokyo, noted that Tuesday's gathering would mark his fourth Quad foreign ministers' meeting — his first in about five years — and described it as an opportunity for the four nations to 'engage in strategic and candid exchanges of views on the international situation.' The first Quad foreign ministers' meeting was held in September 2019, which Motegi also attended as Japan's foreign minister at the time.

What Comes Next

The Japanese Foreign Minister is scheduled to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi alongside other ministers on Tuesday. The Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting — bringing together India, Japan, the United States, and Australia — is set to reaffirm commitment to FOIP and advance discussions on specific areas of cooperation. With West Asia tensions and economic security concerns on the agenda, the meeting is expected to produce a sharper articulation of how the Quad intends to respond to a rapidly shifting global order.