In a belated but significant move amid increasingly murky relations among major players in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan and India are making last-minute preparations to inaugurate a high-level security forum.
Government sources said Friday that Tokyo and New Delhi are planning to hold the inaugural meeting of the forum in Tokyo later this month, although a date has not yet been fixed.
The meeting will be attended by senior foreign and defense ministry officials from both sides. Japan's delegation will be headed by Kunihiko Makita, the director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, the sources said.