Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday announced a 5 trillion yen ($42 billion) investment in India over the next five years after holding wide-ranging discussions with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday. The two leaders were meeting to strengthen security amid the Ukraine crisis and improve economic ties between the two nations. Japan in recent years has supported India's urban infrastructure development and the high-speed railway based on its bullet train technology. In 2014, then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced 3.5 trillion yen in investment and financing over five years during a visit to India. Kishida, who is on his maiden visit to India as prime minister, met Modi at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi and held extensive discussions on a wide range of issues, including ways to further boost bilateral economic and cultural ties. Advancing friendship with Japan, prime ministers Modi and Kishida held productive talks in New Delhi. Following their talks, the leaders jointly addressed the 14th annual India-Japan summit. At the summit, the countries inked six agreements in the areas of cybersecurity, capacity building, information sharing and cooperation. Speaking at the summit, Modi said that progress, prosperity and partnership are the basis of India-Japan relations in the Indo-Pacific region and also at the global level. Taking note of the growing Japanese investments in India, he said that New Delhi is committed to providing all possible support to Japanese companies. "There has been progress in the economic partnership between India and Japan. Japan is one of the largest investors in India. The countries are working as 'One team-One project' on Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor," Modi said. Calling his Japanese counterpart "an old friend of India", Modi said that he had the opportunity to exchange views with Kishida when he served as the foreign minister of Japan. At the summit, the Japanese PM announced Tokyo's plan to raise its investment target in India to $5 trillion yen or Rs3.20 lakh crore ($42 billion) over the next five years. The plans follow the investment promotion partnership of 2014. Japan is currently supporting India's urban infrastructure development as well as a high-speed railway based on Japan's shinkansen bullet train technology. The Prime Minister spoke about the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, saying that the whole world is shaken by the disturbances in the region. He said that it has become very important for India and Japan to have a close partnership during this period. Kishida said that India and Japan should keep working together for an "open and free Indo-Pacific." Both India and Japan are part of the Quad security dialogue along with US and Australia. The 4-nation grouping is seen as a regional counterweight to Chinsese dominance in the Indo-Pacific region. Kishida, who is accompanied by a high-level delegation, arrived in New Delhi on a two-day visit Saturday afternoon and will depart from India at 8 a.m. on Sunday. Kishida is traveling to Cambodia after concluding his India visit. The two leaders discussed nuclear disarmament as Kishida is from Hiroshima, which was hit by nuclear bomb. They also agreed to promote people to people exchange, tourism, sports. Hikariko Ono, Japan press secretary, said, "This visit successfully solidified the base and partnership between the two leaders (Modi & Kishida). Grateful for warm hospitality by people and government of India despite COVID-19 challenges." The Prime Ministers reiterated that India and Japan would continue to contribute to global efforts to combat COVID-19 and to protecting the lives and livelihoods of people. They welcomed the progress made under the Quad Vaccine Partnership Modi reiterated India's support for Japan's candidature for a non-permanent seat at the UNSC for the term 2023-2024, to which Prime Minister Kishida expressed his appreciation. Kishida too congratulated India on its successful Presidency of the UN Security Council in August 2021 including Prime Minister Modi's chairmanship of the UNSC at the High-Level Open Debate on "Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Maritime Security". The Prime Ministers expressed deep concern at the growing threat of terrorism and underlined the need for strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in a comprehensive and sustained manner. They called upon all countries to work together for rooting out terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, disrupting terrorist networks and their financing channels, and halting cross-border movement of terrorists. The Prime Ministers reaffirmed their intention to collaborate closely to realize peace and stability in Afghanistan, and stressed the importance of addressing humanitarian crisis, promoting human rights and ensuring establishment of a truly representative and an inclusive political system. They condemned North Korea's destabilizing ballistic missile launches in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs). They reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea consistent with the relevant UNSCRs, and the importance of addressing concerns related to North Korea's proliferation linkages. They urged North Korea to fully comply with its international obligations under the relevant UNSCRs, and to immediately resolve the abductions issue. Modi gifted his Japanese counterpart Kishida 'Krishna Pankhi', a sandalwood artifact made in Rajasthan with intricate work with its windows depicting different poses of Krishna, epitomizing love, compassion and tenderness. — Agencies
