Japan-India Relations
Japan-India Summit Telephone Talk
On September 25, commencing at around 4:30 p.m. for approximately 25 minutes, Mr. SUGA Yoshihide, Prime Minister of Japan, held a summit telephone talk with H.E. Mr. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India. The overview of the talk is as follows.
1. At the outset, Prime Minister Suga introduced himself and thanked Prime Minister Modi for his congratulatory message on the recent appointment as Prime Minister of Japan. Prime Minister Suga also mentioned that Japan-India relations have developed significantly under the mutual trust between former Prime Minister Abe and Prime Minister Modi. Both Prime Ministers shared their view to continue to advance the “Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership”.
2. Prime Minister Suga expressed his intention to promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of security, economy and economic cooperation, and to work with India towards achieving a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.” Prime Minster Suga also stated that he would like to promote cooperation in such multilateral mechanism as Japan-Australia-India-U.S. meetings and the United Nations as well as on issues related to North Korea, including the abductions issue. Prime Minister Modi expressed his interest in strengthening bilateral coordination. The two Prime Ministers affirmed their intention to steadily advance the high-speed rail project. The two Prime Ministers also welcomed that the Memorandum of Cooperation on specified skilled workers would be signed in the near future, and affirmed their intention to facilitate people-to-people exchanges, looking ahead to the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and India in 2022.
3. The two Prime Ministers shared the view that annual Summit meetings will be resumed once the situation related to COVID-19 be improved.