PM Modi holds talks with Japanese counterpart Kishida

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held wide-ranging talks with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida to expand India-Japan strategic partnership for a peaceful, stable and prosperous post-Covid world.

The Japanese prime minister arrived in Delhi around 8 am on Monday for a nearly 27-hour visit to ramp up bilateral ties in a range of areas and explore convergence between India's presidency of G20 and Japan's presidency of the G7 to address various global problems.

Ahead of the talks, officials said the focus on the bilateral front would be to enhance cooperation in areas of defence and security, trade and investment, and high technologies.

"PM @narendramodi welcomed PM @kishida230 of Japan ahead of bilateral delegation level talks. An opportunity for leaders to review progress in our bilateral ties and further expand the India-Japan Partnership for a peaceful, stable and prosperous post-COVID world," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.

On Sunday, Kishida said the aim of his visit would be to further deepen the "special strategic and global partnership"



between the two countries.

"This year, Japan holds the presidency of the G7, while India chairs the G20. I intend to engage in a thoroughgoing exchange of views with Prime Minister Modi on the question of what role Japan and India should play within the international community," he said.

"Alongside that, with regard to bilateral Japan-India relations, I want to confirm the further deepening of the special strategic and global partnership between India and Japan," Kishida said.

"I will also deliver an address in India on a new plan for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. I will clearly lay out my thinking regarding the role that a Free and Open Indo-Pacific will play at this historic turning point," he added.

The evolving situation in the Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China's rising military assertiveness is also likely to figure in wide-ranging talks between Modi and Kishida.

During his visit to India in March last year, Kishida announced an investment target of five trillion Yen (Rs 3,20,000 crore) in India over the next five years.