The State Department announced late on Wednesday that it has hosted a trilateral meeting with Japan and India focusing on regional and global issues. The State Department said in a statement, that this is the fourth trilateral dialogue exchanging views on a wide range of regional and global issues of mutual interest. This discussion was co-chaired by Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake, and Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, James Zumwalt, on the US side. The Japanese delegation was headed by Deputy Vice Foreign Minister for Foreign Policy Kenji Hiramatsu and Deputy Director-General Kanji Yamanouchi and the Indian delegation was headed by External Affairs Ministry Joint Secretaries DB Venkatesh Varma and Vikram Doraiswami. The State Department noted that these discussions focused on the prospect of greater Indo-Pacific commercial connectivity and regional and maritime security, and cooperation in multilateral forums.