Saturday, March 18 2006 18:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Sydney: Recognising the importance of reinforcing their "global partnership" with India, foreign ministers of US, Australia and Japan today (Mar 18 2006) aid New Delhi's decision to place under safeguards its civil nuclear programme was "a positive step" in expanding non-proliferation regime.

At their first-ever trilateral strategic dialogue, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her counterparts from Australia Alexander Downer and Japan Taro Aso discussed a range of current security challenges, both regional and global, of shared interest to them.

Supporting the emergence and consolidation of democracies and strengthening coopeative frameworks in the Asia-Pacific region was a particular focus of attention during the discussions, a joint statement issued by them said.

"We recognised the importance of reinforcing our global partnership with India and noted that India's decision to place its civilian nuclear facilities and programmes under international safeguards would be a positive step towards expansion of the reach of the international non-proliferation regime," they said.

Expressing "grave concerns" over Iran's nuclear programme, the foreign ministers discussed the need for concerted action at the UN Security Council to convince Iran to promptly suspend all enrichment-related activities, fully cooperate with the IAEA, return to negotiations and take all steps called for by the IAEA board.

"We welcomed China's constructive engagement in the region and concurred on the value of enhanced cooperation with other parties such as ASEAN and the Republic of Korea," the statement said.