India, Japan working together to ensure stable, peaceful, prosperous Indo-Pacific region: Japanese Envoy

By Joymala Bagchi
New Delhi [India], July 30 (ANI): India and Japan are working closely to ensure that the Indo-Pacific region is "stable, peaceful and prosperous", said Kenji Hiramatsu, Japan's Ambassador, here on Tuesday.
"India is a very important strategic partner for Japan. We are working very closely to make sure Indo-pacific relations become stable and peaceful," said Hiramatsu while talking to ANI.
"We are working for example on various connectivity project not only in India but also in surrounding countries. It is a very important partnership," he added.
Recently, the 10 members of ASEAN officially adopted the 'Outlook on the Indo-Pacific' after a year of negotiations. This initiative was welcomed by Japan, India, the US, South Korea, and Australia.
On the sidelines of G-20 Summit, the United States, Japan and India had held a trilateral meeting on enhancing connectivity, infrastructure, and peace.
As the two countries have decided race together to discover water on the moon, Hiramatsu said that both the countries are making plans on its maiden endeavour to land an unmanned rover on the moon's south pole by 2023.
Talking about India and Japan relationship, the envoy said: "I think this
(Indo-Japan relationship) is best in history. Relationships are expanding to many areas from the economy, investments, defence, security to people to people exchange. We are very happy to see very strong progress taking place between us,"
He also said that technological innovation is an important area for both countries. "We can work together in many areas including IT. I see a lot of potentials," he said. (ANI)