PM Narendra Modi and PM Fumio Kishida appreciated the growing economic ties between the two countries

India and Japan agreed to increase cooperation in defence manufacturing during bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida on Tuesday.

The talks, held on the sidelines of the 2nd in-person Quad Leaders' Meeting in Tokyo, saw a productive exchange of views on enhancing bilateral relations in various spheres as well as on some regional and global issues.

"The two leaders agreed to further enhance bilateral security and defence cooperation, including in the area of defence manufacturing. They concurred that the next 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Meeting may be held in Japan at the earliest," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

Growing economic ties

According to the MEA, the two leaders appreciated the growing economic ties between the two countries. They agreed that both sides should 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.

Prime Minister Modi highlighted the steps taken by Government of India to improve ease of doing business, logistics through Gati Shakti initiative and urged Prime Minister Kishida to support greater investments by Japanese companies in India. Such investments would help in creating resilient supply chains and would be mutually beneficial.

In this context, Prime Minister 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 MEA pointed out.

The two leaders noted the progress in implementation of Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project and welcomed the signing of exchange of notes of the 3rd tranche loan for this project.

Information and communication technology

Prime Minister Modi and PM Kishida 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.

According to the MEA, the two leaders agreed to further boost people-to-people linkages. Prime Minister Kishida noted that such linkages should become the backbone of bilateral relations.

In this regard, they took note of the progress in implementation of the Specified Skilled Workers (SSW) programme and agreed to further scale up this programme. Prime Minister Modi 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.

The two leaders concurred that the India-Japan Act East Forum was useful in prioritising development of India’s North East Region, and looked forward to early implementation of various projects which were identified by the two sides during the Annual Summit, the MEA said.

The two leaders exchanged views on recent global and regional developments. They noted the convergences in their respective approaches to the Indo-Pacific and reaffirmed their commitment towards a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.

"In this context, they welcomed the progress in the Quad’s contemporary and constructive agenda such as vaccines, scholarships, critical technologies and infrastructure," the MEA added.