India and Japan will hold their maiden dialogue on cyber security on November 5, it was decided at their “2+2” meeting in Tokyo on Monday.
The four-hour meeting of the 2+2 or Foreign and Defence Secretaries from both sides, a format rarely used by New Delhi, also took some decisions to advance defence and security cooperation.
Officials, however, were tight-lipped as the proposals will be fine-tuned and unveiled during next month’s summit meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda.
The Indian team for the cyber security dialogue will be led by Ministry of External Affairs Special Secretary Ashok Mukherjee.
Officials hope that the exchange of notes on the topic with a developed country would help hone up security of the Indian cyber network, which faces relentless attacks from hackers based here and abroad.
“We hope to learn from them as we go about protecting ourselves from cyber attacks,” said an official source.
The two delegations also exchanged views on maritime and outer space security.
Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, who participated in the dialogue along with Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma, later called on Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba.
The second 2 + 2 dialogue began with an assessment by the former Ambassador to India and Deputy Foreign Minister, Akitaka Saiki, about the security environment around Japan. This was followed by Mr. Mathai detailing India’s perception of the security environment from the Gulf to South East Asia and beyond. Administrative Vice Defence Minister Hironori Kanazawa then provided an overview of how Japan intends to adjust its security policy to the prevailing environment.
