India, Japan to step up defence, investment ties

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 24

India and Japan agreed to further enhance bilateral security and defence cooperation, including in the area of defence manufacturing. 

In a meeting between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Saturday they agreed to give an impetus in this regard by holding a 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Meeting in Japan at the earliest, stated a MEA release.

The two leaders appreciated the growing economic ties and agreed to work jointly towards implementing their decision to have 5 trillion yen in public and private investment and financing from Japan to India in the next five years.

The Prime Minister highlighted the steps taken to improve the ease of doing business, logistics through Gati Shakti initiative and urged Kishida to support greater investments by Japanese companies in India. 

PM Modi appreciated that Japanese companies were increasing their investments in India and that 24 Japanese companies had successfully applied under the various PLI schemes.

The two leaders highlighted the increasing importance of information and communication technologies and in this regard agreed to encourage greater collaboration between private sectors of two sides in development of next generation communication technologies.

 They also discussed possibilities of collaboration in critical and emerging technologies such as 5G, Beyond 5G and semiconductors. The two Prime Ministers also agreed to deepen cooperation in the area of Clean Energy including green hydrogen and, in this regard, encouraged more business to business collaboration.

PM Modi also raised the issue of further easing of travel restrictions in order to facilitate quarantine free entry into Japan for travellers from India carrying Covaxin and Covishield vaccination certificates. 

They exchanged views on recent global and regional developments and noted the convergences in their respective approaches to the Indo-Pacific.  

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