Pact Signing, QUAD And More: What's On PM Modi's Japan Agenda

New Delhi and Tokyo will discuss a broad range of geopolitical and geo-economic issues during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day Japan visit, according to India's Ambassador to Japan Sibi George. The envoy underscored Japan's pivotal role in India's infrastructure transformation and said the two nations will sign several important Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) during PM Modi's stay in Tokyo.

"I'm very happy to note that we will have a great visit, which will cover the entire spectrum of our relationships, giving new momentum to our relationship for the next 10 years. There will be a lot of MOUs which will be signed, very important MOUs will be signed, and very important outcome documents will be released,"  George said while speaking to news agency ANI

PM Modi is set to embark on a two-day official visit to Japan on August 29-30 at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. This visit marks the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit, where the two leaders will discuss various aspects of their strategic partnership-- the Quad being one of them.

The Quad grouping includes India, Japan, Australia and the US and New Delhi is expected to host the summit of its leaders this year amid a souring of its ties with Washington over tariffs imposed on Indian goods by President Donald Trump.

George emphasised that the Quad has made significant progress since its inception in 2004 and has a concrete agenda for promoting peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

"India and Japan are two important countries in the Indo-Pacific region, and they are also two very important countries in the QUAD. When they meet, the leadership will discuss the geopolitical situation and the geo-economic situation. Definitely, all these issues will come up during the talks," he said.

According to the Ambassador, PM Modi's trip is expected to give new momentum to the India-Japan relationship over the next decade, "built on a solid foundation of political, economic, and people-to-people ties."

"This is not the first time they have met. The Honourable Prime Minister has met Prime Minister Ishiba on two previous occasions, at the Laos Summit and during the G7 Summit in Canada. This is the first visit of the Prime Minister since Prime Minister Ishiba assumed office. This is an important annual summit, and as I mentioned, we have a series of important outcomes which we are working on during this visit," he said.

He noted that the two nations have an excellent political and business relationship as well as people-to-people connections.

"We have a very solid base on which to build our relationship. Ten years ago, in 2014, the Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the then Prime Minister of Japan, Mr Abe, entered into an agreement establishing a special strategic and global partnership for India-Japan relations," he said.

"We have, in the last more than 10 years, been working towards building that partnership, and we can see that there is significant progress in every element of that relationship, at both the bilateral and plurilateral levels."

George noted that the bilateral ties between the two nations have improved over the years, and both nations have been working in the fields of science, technology, and innovation exchange.

He stated that PM Modi's visit is a means to take stock of the relations and "come up with a roadmap to take the relationship further to the next higher level in the coming 10 years."

"So this visit to the annual summit is a great occasion to review that relationship and also take it to a new, higher level of partnership," he said.