Fumio Kishida, who previously served as Japan's Foreign Minister, has met Prime Minister Narendra Modi four times in recent years.
Digital Desk: Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is arriving today for his maiden visit to India as Prime Minister, in what is expected to be the first head of government visit to India in 2022.
Fumio Kishida, who previously served as Japan's Foreign Minister, has met Prime Minister Narendra Modi four times in recent years. However, this is his first bilateral visit outside of the United States; he visited Glasgow for CoP26 last year.
The PMs of India and Japan are meeting for the third time, three and a half years after their last meeting in Japan in 2018.
In December 2019, the annual meeting between Modi and his then-Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in Guwahati was cancelled due to large demonstrations in the Assam city over the modified citizenship legislation.
The visit is significant since this year commemorates the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Modi spoke with Kishida on the phone shortly after the latter took office in October 2021. Both parties indicated a willingness to further their distinctive strategic and global collaboration.
Both parties are trying to extend their collaboration as the geopolitical and economic situation evolves, according to insiders.
Kishida, who took office as Japan's Prime Minister on October 4, 2021, will arrive on March 19 (Saturday) afternoon and depart on March 20 morning (Sunday).
As there is convergence on a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific, the two nations have increased their strategic ties. There has also been improvement in the areas of defence and security, as well as in the regional environment.
The two nations are also members of the Act East Forum, which was established after the 2017 Summit's decision to create the India-Japan Act East Forum. The goal is to coordinate development initiatives in areas such as connectivity, forest management, disaster risk reduction, and capacity building in North-East India.
Several projects, including highway upgrades in Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram, are now ongoing, according to officials. Last year, Modi laid the foundation stone for a 20-kilometer bridge connecting Assam and Meghalaya across the Brahmaputra River.
The two countries are cooperating on a Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI), which was established on April 27, 2021 by the Trade and Economy Ministers of India, Japan, and Australia. The programme aims to improve supply chain resilience in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as generate reliable sources of supply and attract investment. Sharing best practises on supply chain resilience and hosting a matching event were completed as first projects.
On the economic front, since Modi's visit to Japan in 2014, tremendous progress has been made on implementation of several important decisions, which have been taken by the PMs.
"We have achieved the target of Japanese Yen 3.5 trillion public and private investments in India, which was announced by Modi and Abe in 2014 (Investment Promotion Partnership)," the source said.
There are 1,455 Japanese enterprises in India, and 11 Japan Industrial Townships (JIT) have been developed, with the most companies in Neemrana, Rajasthan, and Sri City, Andhra Pradesh.
Japan is the world's fifth-largest source of FDI and the second-largest provider of ODA (development partner of India).
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