NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi and his counterpart Sanae Takaichi reaffirmed their commitment to cooperating towards an early convening of the next Quad Leaders’ Summit and underlined the importance of ensuring unimpeded freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz in a joint statement that showcased the deep strategic convergence between the countries on regional and global issues. With both countries heavily dependent on the critical maritime chokepoint for their energy supplies, Modi and Takaichi also registered their opposition to any restrictive measures hampering the flow of commercial vessels. According to the India-Japan joint statement, both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation on strategic petroleum reserves, including through technical collaboration on stockpiling ecosystem, with Takaichi affirming her support for India’s membership to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Significantly for India, the statement, unlike the one issued after the Tokyo summit last year, named Pakistan for its support to cross-border terrorism against India. ‘The two Prime Ministers unequivocally and strongly condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism from Pakistan,” said the joint statement, while strongly condemning the Pahalgam terrorist attack and seeking action against Pakistan-based groups like Jaish and Lashkar. India too backed Japan’s position on the East China Sea and South China Sea with the leaders expressing serious concern over the situation in the region and, in a message to Beijing, reiterating their strong opposition to any unilateral action that endangers the safety as well as freedom of navigation and overflight and attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion. “They shared their serious concerns over the growing militarization of disputed features. They reaffirmed that maritime disputes must be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law, as reflected in UNCLOS,” said the joint statement. According to diplomatic sources, the leaders discussed the ongoing diplomatic standoff between China and Japan over the Taiwan issue that has seen Beijing impose export controls on Japanese companies. While President Donald Trump’s China policy has complicated the Quad summit process, seen not long ago as the cornerstone for a free and open Indo-Pacific, India and Japan unequivocally backed the grouping as they welcomed the “steady progress” under the Quad framework and reaffirmed their shared commitment to enhance practical cooperation. “They underscored the importance of Quad collaboration across the four pillars of maritime and transnational security; economic prosperity and security, including critical minerals; critical and emerging technologies; and humanitarian assistance and emergency response,” said the joint statement. However, official sources from both sides admitted there was no clarity yet on the dates and venue for the next summit, even though Japan would like India to host it. On the Gaza situation, the leaders backed the two-state solution, saying that continued diplomatic efforts are indispensable to restoring stability at the earliest and achieving lasting peace in the region. The leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to working with other G4 countries – Germany and Brazil – for an urgent reform of the UN Security Council. While they reiterated their mutual support for each other’s candidature for a permanent seat in a reformed UNSC, India and Japan also backed each other’s respective candidatures for non-permanent seats in 2028-29 and 2033-34.