External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong met in Japan's Tokyo on Monday, where the two leaders discussed steps to intensify bilateral ties in security, trade, and education, and deepen practical cooperation across the Indo-Pacific.
Jaishankar is in Tokyo to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the four-nation grouping Quad or Quadrilateral coalition, of which Australia is also a member.
"A great start this morning meeting Australian FM @SenatorWong in Tokyo," Jaishankar said in a post on X.
"Spoke about further steps to intensify our bilateral ties including in security, trade and education. Also discussed deepening our practical cooperation across the Indo-Pacific. Look forward to continuing this at the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting shortly," he said.
Apart from India and Australia, Japan, and the United States are other members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, commonly known as the Quad. It is a strategic security dialogue that is maintained by talks between member countries.
In November 2017, the four nations gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence.
On Sunday, Jaishankar held "wide-ranging" talks with his American counterpart Antony Blinken against the backdrop of an unease in India-US ties following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia three weeks back. Earlier in the day he also unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at Freedom Plaza in Edogawa, Tokyo.
Jaishankar arrived in Japan on Sunday from Laos for a two-day visit for the Quad Foreign Ministers' meeting.