They also agreed to further enhance bilateral security and defence cooperation, including in the area of defence manufacturing

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today raised with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida 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 also 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.

They also 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 two leaders had a bilateral meeting in Tokyo on the margins of the Quad Summit. Kishida also hosted a dinner for PM Modi. The two leaders had a productive exchange of views on enhancing bilateral relations in various spheres as well as on some regional and global issues.

Modi highlighted the steps taken by the Government of India to improve the ease of doing business, and logistics through the 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, he 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 noted the progress in the implementation of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) project and welcomed the signing of the exchange of notes of the 3rd tranche loan for this project.

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

They noted the convergences in their respective approaches to the Indo-Pacific and reaffirmed their commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.

Earlier, Modi met three former PMs of Japan and shared the two countries’ vision for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Japan’s former PM Yoshihide Suga was the first to call on Modi, followed by Yoshiro Mori and Shinzo Abe. Mori is the current Chairperson of the Japan-India Association (JIA) while Abe, who is a personal friend of Modi, will be taking over this role shortly. The JIA, established in 1903, is one of the oldest friendship associations in Japan.