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The monthly magazine, July 2026 · Global Affairs and International Relations › Major powers › Japan, Australia and South Korea
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Global Affairs and International Relations › Major powers
हिन्दी — Read in HindiJapan, Australia and South Korea
India's partners in the Indo Pacific: Japan, Australia and South Korea.
All 2 articles shown; the 2 that changed from 1 to 31 July 2026 are marked.Show only these
India and Japan
Copy link to India and JapanPrelims and Mains
LeadIndia and Japan: an economic security compactJuly 2026
Why in news
Japan's Prime Minister made her first official visit to India from 1 to 3 July 2026 for the 16th Annual Summit. It produced sixteen outcome documents, led by a Joint Declaration on Economic Security, and an agreement in principle on the remaining technical details of the Unified Complex Radio Antenna (UNICORN) mast project.
Background
- India and Japan have a Special Strategic and Global Partnership, run through an annual summit that alternates between the capitals and a 2+2 dialogue of foreign and defence ministers.
- Japan is the largest lender for Indian infrastructure, including the Mumbai to Ahmedabad high speed rail.
- At the 2025 summit Japan set a target of 10 trillion yen of private investment in India over a decade.
- Diplomatic relations date from 1952; 2027 is the 75th anniversary.
Economic security as the new frame
- The declaration names semiconductors, critical minerals, information technology with artificial intelligence, clean energy and pharmaceuticals as the areas where both will reduce dependence on a single supplier.
- Both economies are exposed to concentrated sourcing from China; this is the shared interest beneath the partnership.
- A goal of 500 skilled Indian professionals in artificial intelligence in Japan by 2030 matches Japan's ageing workforce with India's surplus of talent.
- Japan backed India's membership of the International Energy Agency, and the two agreed to work on oil stockpiling and the safety of energy shipping.
Defence
- Agreement in principle on the UNICORN mast, a stealth antenna for warships, India's first defence equipment transfer from Japan. August named it the first such project.
- Exercises in all three services: Dharma Guardian (army), Japan India Maritime Exercise (JIMEX) (navy) and Veer Guardian (air force), which in 2026 brings Japanese fighters to India for the first time.
- In August a maritime security arrangement covered domain awareness, search and rescue and sea lane protection.
India's stakes
- Japan is the partner most likely to move factories and capital into India as supply chains shift.
- It shares India's caution about China yet is a United States treaty ally, so it can anchor India's Indo Pacific policy without the unpredictability of American trade policy.
- The limit: Japanese firms have been slow to invest beyond cars and infrastructure, and defence transfers are bound by Japan's own rules.
The way forward
- Turn the declaration into plants: a semiconductor or component unit in India under the ten trillion yen target.
- Conclude the mast project and move to co development, not just purchase.
- Use the 75th anniversary in 2027 for a people to people push: students, nurses and engineers.
Prelims facts
- The 16th India and Japan Annual Summit: New Delhi, 1 to 3 July 2026.
- UNICORN: Unified Complex Radio Antenna, a stealth mast for warships.
- Exercises: Dharma Guardian (army), JIMEX (navy), Veer Guardian (air force).
- Japan supports India's membership of the International Energy Agency.
- Diplomatic relations since 1952; the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement since 2011.
India and Japan have a Special Strategic and Global Partnership, run through an annual summit that alternates between the capitals and a 2+2 dialogue of foreign and defence ministers.
What changed
2 Jul 2026LeadIndia and Japan: an economic security compact
Show history (2 other updates)
22 Sep 2026Briefnewly addedOn 22 September the Foreign Secretary discussed economic security and supply chain resilience with a delegation of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party in New Delhi. News On AIR, 22 Sep 2026: Foreign Secretary Misri holds talks with Japanese parliamentarians on strengthening India Japan economic security partnership (opens in a new tab)
20 Aug 2026newly added
- On 20 August the two Defence Ministers signed a Memorandum of Arrangement on Maritime Security Cooperation, covering maritime domain awareness, search and rescue and the protection of sea lanes.
- The Unified Complex Radio Antenna (UNICORN) mast was named the first defence equipment transfer project, and Veer Guardian 26 will be the first air exercise in India with Japanese fighter aircraft.
India and Australia
Copy link to India and AustraliaPrelims and Mains
LeadIndia and Australia: a defence declaration, uranium at last and a technology partnershipJuly 2026
Why in news
The two Prime Ministers held the third India and Australia Annual Summit in Melbourne on 9 July 2026. They adopted a new defence and security declaration, finalised the arrangement that lets Australian uranium reach Indian reactors, and launched a partnership on cyber, critical technologies and supply chains.
Background
- The relationship became a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in June 2020, and an interim trade agreement has been in force since December 2022; a fuller agreement is still under negotiation.
- Australia long refused uranium to any state outside the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. After the 2008 Nuclear Suppliers Group waiver it changed that policy for India in 2011, signed a civil nuclear agreement in 2014, and passed enabling legislation in 2016.
- Both are members of the Quad, with Japan and the United States.
What the summit agreed
- A Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation, building on the one of 2009: interoperability, maritime security, defence industry, cyber, and more aircraft deployments from each other's territory.
- A roadmap and a coast guard pact that extend cooperation from navies to coast guards, which matters for illegal fishing and narcotics.
- The Administrative Arrangement that operationalises the 2014 nuclear agreement, twelve years after signature.
- A Partnership on Cyber, Critical Technologies and Supply Chains, from undersea cables to critical minerals, co chaired by deputy national security advisers.
- Return of three antiquities of Tamil Nadu origin; more Australian campuses in India.
Uranium: why it took twelve years
- Australia holds about a third of the world's known uranium and is an early member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
- Its policy barred supply to a state outside the treaty; India will not sign the treaty as a non weapon state.
- The 2014 agreement needed an administrative arrangement on safeguards and accounting for every shipment, and that is what was finalised.
- Supply goes only to reactors under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
India's stakes
- Fuel for a nuclear programme that the new nuclear law means to expand.
- A partner in the Indian Ocean whose navy and coast guard reach where India's do not.
- Critical minerals, of which Australia is a leading producer, for batteries and electronics.
- The gap is trade: the full agreement is stuck on farm goods and dairy.
The way forward
- Sign uranium contracts, so that the arrangement is more than paper.
- Close the full trade agreement with dairy kept out, as India did with New Zealand.
- Make the technology partnership deliver one joint project in minerals processing or undersea cables.
Prelims facts
- Third annual summit: Melbourne, 9 July 2026.
- Civil nuclear agreement 2014; interim trade agreement in force December 2022; strategic partnership June 2020.
- Australia changed its uranium policy for India in 2011, after the 2008 Nuclear Suppliers Group waiver.
- The Indian Coast Guard, which is under the Ministry of Defence, signed a pact with Australia's Maritime Border Command.
- Exercise Pitch Black is an Australian air exercise in which the Indian Air Force took part in 2026.
The relationship became a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in June 2020, and an interim trade agreement has been in force since December 2022; a fuller agreement is still under negotiation.
Uranium from Australia
Uranium from Australia is the supply India can buy under the civil nuclear cooperation agreement the two countries signed in 2015.
- Australia holds more than a quarter of the world's uranium reserves.
- It long refused to sell to countries outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; India is outside the treaty but was exempted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2008.
What changed
9 Jul 2026LeadIndia and Australia: a defence declaration, uranium at last and a technology partnership
14 Jul 2026
- India and Australia finalised the arrangements for uranium exports under their 2015 agreement, for peaceful use under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
- Private Australian miners can now contract with Indian private firms, which the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act allows into the sector.
The Hindu, 14 Jul 2026: What is the India-Australia uranium supplies agreement? (opens in a new tab) · The Indian Express, 15 Jul 2026: Australia agrees to supply uranium to India, reversing its long-standing non-proliferation objection (opens in a new tab)
Also filed elsewhere
- India Japan Joint Crediting Mechanism · on Climate finance, carbon markets and carbon pricing
The Joint Crediting Mechanism is a bilateral framework under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement for projects that reduce or remove emissions in India with Japanese investment and technology.
- Lithium blocks abroad · on Mining and minerals
Lithium blocks abroad are lithium bearing ground in other countries that India buys into, through KABIL, Khanij Bidesh India Limited.