Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Apulia on June 14. | Photo credit: ANI
Strong ties between India and Japan are important for a peaceful, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said as he met his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in Italy, where the two leaders expressed desire to promote bilateral ties across sectors .
The Prime Minister, who was on a day-long visit to Apulia, southern Italy, on June 14 to address the Outreach Session on the second day of the three-day G7 Summit, met Mr Kishida after addressing the multilateral meeting on the subject of artificial intelligence. Intelligence, energy, Africa and the Mediterranean.
“Strong ties between India and Japan are important for a peaceful, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Modi said in a statement on social media after his talks with Mr Kishida.
His comments came amid China’s aggressive behavior in the region and its efforts to expand its influence.
“Our countries look forward to working together in defense, technology, semiconductors, clean energy and digital technologies. We also want to promote infrastructure ties and cultural ties,” he said.
In a readout of the meeting, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the Prime Minister thanked the Japanese counterpart for his congratulatory wishes on his re-election and affirmed that bilateral ties will continue to be a priority in his third term.
“The two leaders noted the 10th anniversary of the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership and expressed satisfaction over the progress made in the relationship. They discussed ways to further deepen cooperation, add new and emerging areas and strengthen B2B and P2P collaboration,” the MEA statement said.
“India and Japan are working together in several key areas including the historic Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project that will herald the next phase of mobility in India, the targeted 5 trillion yen of Japanese investments in India by 2022 -2027, and India-Japan Industrial Competitiveness Partnership aimed at transforming our manufacturing cooperation. The meeting between the two Prime Ministers provided an opportunity to review some of these ongoing cooperation projects,” the report said.
The two leaders concluded their talks by stating that they looked forward to continuing their discussion at the next annual India-Japan summit.
The bilateral discussion between India and Japan took place towards the end of the Prime Minister’s visit, after a series of talks with the leaders of France, Britain, Ukraine, US, Italy and Germany.
