Tokyo (Japan), August 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached the capital Tokyo as part of his two-day visit to Japan. Members of the Indian community have met him in Tokyo. Prime Minister Modi has shared the photo and details of this meeting on his official X handle about two hours ago.
Prime Minister Modi wrote, “I was very impressed by the affection of the Indian community in Tokyo. It is really admirable how they preserve our cultural roots while making a significant contribution to Japanese society. In the next few hours, I will hold talks with business leaders with the aim of further strengthening trade and investment relations between India and Japan. “
Prime Minister Modi wrote in another X post after reaching the capital of Japan, “I have reached Tokyo. India and Japan are moving towards further strengthening development cooperation and I hope this visit will provide an opportunity to exchange views with Prime Minister Ishiba and others, further strengthen our existing partnership and explore new possibilities of cooperation.
India will work more closely with Japan in the field of defence, Prime Minister Modi said in a written interview to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper before starting his Japan visit.
According to The Japan News, Prime Minister Modi said the Japan-India Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation, which is to be revised during his visit, will “advance our ambition to shape a secure and stable Indo-Pacific region for generations to come.”
The revised draft of the joint declaration (which was originally signed in 2008) covers new areas such as cooperation in economic security and defence industry. Japan and India plan to exchange the revised document during the meeting between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Modi on Friday.
PM Modi said that cooperation in the defence sector has been a “strong success story for India and Japan”. “Japan also has a proven track record in the field of defence technology. With political trust and cooperation, we can design and produce next generation defence platforms not only for ourselves but for the world,” he wrote.
“By combining India’s scale and capabilities with Japan’s advanced technologies, we can build a flexible and reliable semiconductor value chain. Cooperation in this sector will become a key pillar of India-Japan partnership,” PM Modi wrote.
In the interview, Prime Minister Modi also described a high-speed rail project in India. This project will adopt Japan’s Shinkansen system. He said that this rail project will connect the commercial center Mumbai and the industrial city Ahmedabad. Prime Minister Modi said, “We have set a big goal. That is to provide 7,000 kilometers of high-speed rail network in the country. I welcome the active participation of Japanese companies in this effort.”
According to the news of Yomiuri Shimbun, Indian Prime Minister Modi arrived in Japan on the morning of August 29. Today afternoon he will meet Prime Minister Ishiba at the Prime Minister’s residence of Japan. The two leaders will issue a joint statement focused on strengthening security cooperation and economic partnership between Japan and India. This is Modi’s first visit to Japan since May 2023. After the meeting, the two leaders will hold a ceremony to exchange documents of agreement and address a joint press conference. After this they will continue their discussion at dinner. Modi will inspect a semiconductor manufacturing equipment factory before leaving for his next destination China on August 30.