India, Japan to boost ties in AI, semiconductors, clean energy & space: Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said the India-Japan partnership has acquired greater strategic significance than ever before, adding that the two countries will focus on deepening cooperation in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, critical minerals, clean energy and space to shape the future of the Indo-Pacific region.

Addressing the eighth India-Japan Indo-Pacific Forum, Jaishankar said the partnership between the two democracies “enhances strategic stability in the Indo-Pacific and contributes to global economic balance”.

“Maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific is a stronger imperative, but also a more complex challenge,” he said, underlining that India and Japan have a “larger responsibility” as maritime nations to preserve peace and stability in the region.

The minister highlighted the eight priority pillars of cooperation identified during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan in August, which also set an investment target of 10 trillion yen over the next decade. He called the Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation a milestone that “raises the level of our aspirations in defence and security”.

Citing growing convergence of interests, Jaishankar pointed to new collaborations such as the Next Generation Mobility Partnership, Economic Security Initiative and Joint Declaration on Clean Hydrogen and Ammonia.

He said people-to-people exchanges would deepen through the Action Plan for Human Resource Cooperation and Exchange, fostering greater understanding between the two societies.

“The India-Japan relationship has always been future-oriented,” Jaishankar said, adding that both sides will continue to strengthen supply chains and expand cooperation in new-age sectors to advance shared Indo-Pacific goals.