Japan pm kishida to visit india today g 7 g 20 indo pacific ties on agenda

Japan pm kishida to visit india today g 7 g 20 indo pacific ties on agenda

Synchronising plans for the G-7 summit in Hiroshima in May and the G-20 summit in Delhi in September will be on the agenda for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s 24-hour visit to Delhi on Monday, a senior Japanese official said.

Mr. Kishida will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also deliver a major speech on Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategy and its new defence posture, more than 15 years since the late Shinzo Abe first spoke about Indo-Pacific cooperation during a visit to Delhi. Mr. Kishida and Mr. Modi will also take a walk together at a park in Delhi to visit a venerated tree with deep roots to Gautam Buddha’s time.

Mr. Kishida has been on a whirlwind spree of meetings with international leaders beginning in January, when he travelled to the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France and Italy, and also hosted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Tokyo this weekend to discuss the G-7 agenda with member countries. He will make the short trip to Delhi to work with Mr. Modi on more cooperation between G-7 and G-20 Presidencies, and is likely to make another attempt at bringing India on board with more tough language on Russia during the Hiroshima G-7 meeting, something India didn’t sign on to during last year’s G-7 summit in Germany.

“As Japan and India assume the Presidencies of the G-7 and the G-20 respectively this year, Prime Minister Kishida looks forward to engaging in candid discussions with Mr. Modi on the roles that the G-7 and the G-20 should play in overcoming such global challenges as regional and international security, food security, climate and energy, fair and transparent development finance,” Noriyuki Shikata, Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs at the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office, told The Hindu when asked about the visit.

Mr. Kishida’s visit is unusual, as it is not a part of the annual bilateral summits Indian and Japanese leaders have held since 2006. Government sources also said that the visit would focus on “converging priorities on critical global issues, including food and health security, energy transitions and economic security,” indicating discussions on the impact of the Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic were on the agenda for talks.

Bilateral issues

Mr. Kishida will meet Mr. Modi after laying a wreath at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial at Rajghat. The two leaders are expected to announce a detailed commitment on coordination between the G-7 and G-20 summits this year. In particular, Mr. Kishida will speak about increasing engagement between the G-7 and the Global South, much like the Indian Presidency of the G-20 has done. In addition, they will discuss bilateral issues, including Japan’s targeted 5-trillion yen public and private investment in India, connectivity projects in the northeast, and the much-delayed Shinkansen high-speed rail project.

Sources said the two sides would also outlook India-Japan cooperation under their “Special Strategic and Global Partnership” over the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP), which will be outlined by Mr. Kishida during his “Sapru House lecture” later in the day. “[PM Kishida] thinks that it was in India where the vision of FOIP was born,” Mr. Shikata said, referencing Abe’s “Confluence of the Seas” speech to the Indian Parliament in 2007. “He looks forward to discussing the future of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ with the people of India on this occasion of his visit to India,” Mr. Shikata added.

Mr. Kishida will also visit Buddha Jayanti Park and see the Bal Bodhi Tree, which is believed to be connected to the “Mahabodhi tree” that Gautam Buddha attained enlightenment under. The tree grew from a sapling presented by former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike and was planted by former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964.