New Delhi [India], August 28 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi is about to embark on a two-day go to to Japan as we speak, for the fifteenth India-Japan Annual Summit along with his Japanese counterpart, Shigeru Ishiba, throughout which the 2 leaders will deal with additional bolstering ties between the 2 nations.
At the invitation of the Prime Minister of Japan, Shigeru Ishiba, PM Modi will go to Japan from August 29 to 30, after which depart for China from August 31 to September 1 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin.
During the summit, each Prime Ministers will conduct an in-depth overview of their ties, take stock of progress over the previous few years throughout a number of domains, and, as common, alternate views on regional and world problems with significance.
The summit will probably be a possibility to launch a number of new initiatives with a view to construct larger resilience within the relationship and to answer rising alternatives and challenges. The program features a go to exterior Tokyo, which is able to once more be one thing to stay up for for the 2 leaders.
The go to additionally contains interactions of PM Modi with a number of different political leaders from Japan, in addition to with Friends of India in Japan. PM Modi may also take part in a enterprise leaders’ discussion board with captains of the Japanese and Indian trade. These interactions are geared toward deepening the essential commerce, funding and expertise relationship between the 2 nations.
This go to marks Modi’s first standalone journey to Japan in almost seven years and his first annual summit with Ishiba.
PM Modi final visited for the Annual Summit in 2018. Since then, he has visited Japan, however that has been for multilateral engagements and different ceremonial occasions. So, this will probably be a go to that will probably be totally devoted to the bilateral agenda between India and Japan. This can also be PM Modi’s eighth go to to Japan since he took workplace in 2014, and displays the very excessive precedence that this explicit relationship has in our international relations.
Notably, the high-level engagements between India and Japan embody a number of vital visits and conferences. In 2007, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered the ‘Confluence of the Two Seas’ speech within the Indian Parliament, marking a pivotal second within the relationship. Six years later, in 2013, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko grew to become the primary Japanese imperial couple to go to India, strengthening cultural and diplomatic ties between the 2 nations.
In 2014, Prime Minister Abe was honoured because the Republic Day Chief Guest in India, additional solidifying bilateral relations. The relationship continued to develop, with President Ram Nath Kovind attending Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony in 2019, showcasing India’s respect for Japan’s imperial traditions.
In latest years, the engagement between the 2 nations has intensified. In March 2022, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida visited India and pledged JPY 5 trillion (roughly USD 42 billion) in funding. During this go to, the Clean Energy Partnership was launched, and the Industrial Competitiveness Partnership was superior. Additionally, an alternate of notes was signed for seven yen mortgage initiatives value over JPY 300 billion (USD 2.7 billion), demonstrating Japan’s dedication to supporting India’s growth.
Prime Minister Kishida returned to India in March 2023, the place the fourth tranche of Official Development Assistance (ODA) value JPY 300 billion (INR 18,000 crore or USD 2.2 billion) was signed for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project. New initiatives in tourism and the setting had been additionally launched throughout this go to, additional increasing cooperation between the 2 nations.
In May 2023, Prime Minister Modi attended the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, the place he unveiled a statue of Mahatma Gandhi close to Peace Park, symbolising India’s dedication to peace and non-violence. Later, in September 2023, Prime Minister Kishida visited India once more for the G20 Summit, the place each leaders coordinated G7-G20 priorities and highlighted the considerations of the Global South.
The relationship continued to strengthen with PM Modi and Japanese PM Kishida assembly on the G7 Summit in Italy in June 2024, marking 10 years of the Special Strategic Partnership between India and Japan.
In October 2024, PM Modi met with Prime Minister Ishiba in Vientiane throughout the ASEAN Summit, additional reinforcing the bilateral ties. More lately, in September 2025, the 2 leaders met throughout the Quad Summit in Wilmington, Delaware.
The goodwill between the 2 leaders was additionally evident when PM Ishiba referred to as PM Modi in April 2025 to precise condolences following the Pahalgam terror assault, demonstrating the sturdy private rapport between the leaders of the 2 nations.
Beyond summits, Foreign Ministers, Defence Ministers, and NSAs meet recurrently, with the newest 2+2 Ministerial (New Delhi, 2024) and Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue (2024).
Further, each nations have a strong commerce and funding relationship, with bilateral commerce between the 2 nations reaching USD 22.8 billion in 2023-24. India’s imports from Japan outweigh its exports, with the primary objects exported to Japan together with chemical substances, automobiles, aluminium, and seafood, whereas imports from Japan primarily include equipment, metal, copper, and reactors.
In the primary 9 months of 2024-25, bilateral commerce stood at USD 21 billion, exhibiting stability in commerce relations. Japan is India’s fifth-largest supply of international direct funding (FDI), with a cumulative funding of USD 43.2 billion as much as December 2024. Annual FDI inflows from Japan have been sturdy, with USD 3.1 billion in 2023-24 and USD 1.36 billion in 2024-25 (April-December).
Japanese firms have constantly ranked India as a promising long-term funding vacation spot. There are roughly 1,400 Japanese firms with almost 5,000 institutions working in India, whereas over 100 Indian firms work in Japan. Profitability charges and growth plans for Japanese firms in India stay excessive.
The two nations are additionally exploring rising areas of cooperation, together with digital cooperation in semiconductors and startups, clear power, provide chain resilience, industrial competitiveness, and talent growth.
Overall, the go to will consolidate our long-standing friendship. It will open recent avenues of cooperation, and reaffirm our shared dedication to peace, prosperity and stability, each for the 2 nations in addition to in our shared Indo-Pacific area and past, in response to MEA. (ANI)