Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in India on March 19 to attend and participate in the 14th India-Japan Annual Summit, which is being held in New Delhi.
The Japanese Prime Minister was received by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at the airport. Kishida will stay in India for the next two days and is slated to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bilateral talks today, besides participating in the summit.
This is Kishida's first such visit in his role as Prime Minister and the Summit would be the first meeting between the two leaders. The previous India-Japan Annual Summit took place in Tokyo in October 2018.
India and Japan have multi-faceted cooperation within the ambit of their ‘Special Strategic and Global Partnership’. The Summit will further strengthen the bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
"The Summit will provide an opportunity for both sides to review and strengthen the bilateral cooperation in diverse areas as well as exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest so as to advance their Partnership for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond", read a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs.
India and Japan have maintained the momentum in ties through virtual meetings and phone calls despite the pandemic. Prime Minister spoke to the then Japanese Prime Minister Suga on April 26 2021, to exchange views on the management of the pandemic and for strengthening cooperation in the post-COVID-19 world.
Both nations also witnessed further strengthening of bilateral security and defence cooperation.
India says ties with Japan are key to stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The two nations, along with the United States and Australia, are members of the Indo-Pacific alliance known as the Quad that is grappling with a rising China's coercive economic practices and military maneuvering.
In September, the Quad leaders announced Japan would work with India on a $100 million investment in COVID-19 vaccines and treatment drugs.
The bilateral trade between India and Japan for 2019-20 crossed $11.87 billion. India's exports from Japan amounted to $3.94 billion while India's imports from Japan stood at $7.93 billion.
The Japanese investments in India touched $32 billion between 2000 and 2019, mainly in the automobile, electrical equipment, telecommunications, chemical, insurance and pharmaceutical sectors.
(With inputs from agencies)
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