Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has arrived in New Delhi today to attend the annual India-Japan Summit and will hold a meeting with his counterpart Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The meeting is seen as a significant development in the relationship between two countries as Japan is set to host the G7 Summit next month. One of the key points of discussion between both the Prime Ministers would be to chalk out ways on how both G20 and G7 nations can work closely to handle critical global issues.
PM Kishida is expected to continue his predecessor Shinzo Abe’s policy of working closely with India on security and development across the Indo-Pacific as he is set to announce the ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific Plan for Peace’ at the Sapru House Lecture organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA).
During the annual summit, PM Kishida is expected to deliberate on several upcoming summits including the ongoing G20, the upcoming G7, QUAD and SCO Summit. Key to these discussions will be how the two leaders are able to harmonize their positions over the Ukraine war as the impact of G-7 and QUAD summit communique will be felt on the G-20 summit being hosted by India in September this year.
Curbing China’s growing assertiveness across the region and giving developing countries more options in the field of development and security will be one of the key objectives of this visit. PM Kishida is expected to discuss Indo-Pacific plan with PM Modi and seek India’s cooperation in its implementation.
PM Kishida will deliver a key speech on Indo-Pacific strategy and its renewed defence posture. Last time, former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe spoke about matter 15 years age during his visit to India.
As Japan has been pushing for more sanctions against Russia, the Ukraine crisis is also expected to figure at the annual Summit. However, India has refrained from publicly criticising Russia for the war and backed diplomacy and dialogue to find a resolution to the conflict while ramping up its purchases of Russian oil.
Government has said that the visit would focus on ‘converging priorities on critical global issues, including food and health security, energy transitions and economic security.”
