Prime Minister Narendra, his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump on Friday held a “productive” trilateral meeting on the Indo-Pacific region on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka.

After the trilateral meeting, Modi tweeted: “Today’s meeting of the JAI (Japan, America, India) Trilateral was a productive one. We had extensive discussions on the Indo-Pacific region, improving connectivity and infrastructure development”.

“Grateful to PM @AbeShinzo and President @realDonaldTrump for sharing their views as well,” he said.

External Affairs Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar also posted of the meeting on Twitter, saying: “2nd ‘JAI’ Trilateral Meeting between PM @narendramodi, Japanese PM @AbeShinzo and POTUS @realDonaldTrump on margins of #G20 Summit. Discussion focused on how the three countries can together work together towards an open, stable and rule-based Indo-Pacific region.”

A White House statement said the leaders “reaffirmed the critical importance of strengthening US-India-Japan cooperation to reinforce shared core democratic values, which promote global security and prosperity”.

“They agreed to meet every year aceto ensure successful cooperation in multiple areas, including maritime security, quality infrastructure, and advancing peace and prosperity in the Indian Ocean and Pacific region and beyond,” it added.

Giving the acronym ‘JAI’ to the Japan-America-India trilateral meet, PM Modi highlighted the importance India attaches to ‘JAI’, saying that it was “committed to a better future”.

This was the second trilateral meeting of the three leaders, who had met last year at the Buenos Aires G20 meeting.

Established in 1999, the G20 is an international financial forum comprising 19 nations and the European Union. It focuses on pressing financial and economic issues, seeking to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organisation.

The member nations are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, Britain and the US.