New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida Monday, during which the two leaders vowed to expand the India-Japan global strategic partnership for a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific, as well as for the benefit of the two countries in diverse areas.
Kishida landed in Delhi Monday morning for what is his second visit to India as Japan’s PM.
During his meeting with Modi at Delhi’s Hyderabad House, Kishida also invited the Indian PM to the G7 Leader’s Summit in Japan in May.
“Today Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida invited me to the G7 Leaders’ Summit which will be held in Hiroshima in May. I thank him for this,” PM Modi said in the joint press statement after the meeting.
The G7 Summit is an annual meeting attended by France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada, together with the president of the European Council and the president of the European Commission, according to details available on the website of the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan.
The G7 Summit in Japan this year comes even as India, the current president of the G20 group of countries, gears up to hold the G20 Summit in Delhi later this year.
“I have spoken to him (Kishida) regarding India’s G20 priorities in detail. Our main priority is to give voice to the needs of the global south,” PM Modi said.
Kishida had said Sunday that the aim of his India 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 had said.
He added: “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.”
(With inputs from PTI)
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