Japanese PM Fumio Kishida to discuss bilateral, regional issues with Modi on India visit

NEW DELHI: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will visit India on March 20 to hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both leaders will discuss regional and bilateral issues of mutual interest, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

The MEA said the two leaders will discuss priorities for India’s presidency of G20 and Japan’s presidency of the G7. Fumio last visited India in March 2022. Japan holds this year’s presidency of the Group of Seven (G7) major countries. Besides, both countries are partners in Quad.

“We, as this year’s chairs (of the two groups), will exchange views to strengthen cooperation,” Fumio said on Friday while addressing a  meeting between the Japanese government and the ruling camp of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito. 

“The Japanese and Indian leaders will discuss a range of issues, including for realising a free and open Indo-Pacific, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Friday. After their forthcoming meeting, the two leaders will meet again in May during the Quad Summit in Australia and Fumio will  visit India in September for the G20 Summit. 

The two leaders could meet a fourth time this year, if PM Modi attends the G7 Summit in Hiroshima in May this year. Kishida’s trip comes in the backdrop of his Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi’s cancellation of a visit to the foreign ministerial meeting of the G-20 held last week.

Meanwhile, Australian PM Albanese is concluding his state visit to India. Boosting overall bilateral defence cooperation, especially in the maritime sphere, was a key takeaway of of the talks between Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. ”The prime ministers agreed that, as a practical step, India and Australia may continue to explore conduct of aircraft deployments from each other’s territories to build operational familiarity and enhance maritime domain awareness,” a joint statement said.