NEW DELHI: Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida came to India on March 20 on a two-day official visit to discuss bilateral global strategic partnership.
In his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kishida reiterated that the partnership was important not only for the two countries for their mutual benefit, but was also essential for prosperity and stability in the IndoPacific region. The visit comes in the backdrop of rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific region due to an aggressive China, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and other international concerns.
Strategic partnership
PM Modi extended a warm welcome to Kishida and expressed hope of working closely together, and to further develop relations under the Japan-India Special Strategic Global Partnership.
Thanking him, Kishida stated that he would like to hold thorough discussions in view of the upcoming G7 Hiroshima Summit in May and the G20 New Delhi Summit in September this year. While Japan serves as G7 presidency, India holds the G20 presidency.
India’s G20 presidency
Referring to the respective chairs that the two countries hold, PM Modi said that it was the best opportunity to work together on priorities of both sides for global good. He said he had briefed Japan’s PM extensively about priorities of the Indian presidency of G20. Apart from discussing cooperation as G7 and G20 Chairs, the premiers dwelt on the details in bilateral relations. These included security and defence, economy, people-to-people exchanges, etc.
The Japanese premier also extended an invitation to PM Modi to participate in the G7 Hiroshima Summit, which the Indian premier has accepted.
