Japanese PM To Visit India On March 19

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to pay a two-day visit to New Delhi from March 19 for the 14th India-Japan Annual Summit.

Speaking at a weekly media briefing, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi informed that this will be the first meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Japanese Prime Minister Kishida.

"India-Japan Summit will be held on March 19th. At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida will be undertaking an official visit to New Delhi from 19-20 March for 14th India-Japan Annual Summit. This will be the first meeting of these two leaders," said Bagchi and noted that the last annual summit took place in Tokyo back in 2018.

Underscoring the importance of the bilateral ties, the MEA spokesperson said both India and Japan have multi-faceted cooperation within the ambit of their special strategic and global partnership.

"The summit will provide an opportunity to review and strengthen bilateral cooperation in diverse areas as well as exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, so as to advance partnership for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region," he added.

Last year witnessed increasing bilateral and multilateral engagement between India and Japan, and further strengthening of the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership.

The two sides maintained the momentum in ties through virtual meetings and phone calls despite the pandemic. Prime Minister spoke to the then Japanese Prime Minister Suga on April 26, 2021, to exchange views on the management of the pandemic and for strengthening cooperation in the post-Covid-19 world.

Both nations also witnessed further strengthening of bilateral security and defence cooperation.

(With Inputs from ANI)

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