India’s Modi and Japan’s Ishiba agree to expand ties. Here’s what they said
NEW DELHI (AP) — India and Japan on Friday agreed to further expand ties and deepen cooperation in areas such as security, economy, clean energy and human resources.
The two nations released a “joint vision” for cooperation for the next 10 years after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shigeru Ishiba held talks in Tokyo. They agreed to boost Japanese private sector investment in India to 10 trillion yen ($68 billion) over the next decade.
Here’s a look at Modi’s and Ishiba’s remarks:
Future partnership
The Indian leader said India and Japan “have laid a strong foundation for a new and golden chapter” in their “special strategic and global partnership.”
“Focus of 10-year India-Japan roadmap will be investment, innovation, economic security, environment, technology and health,” Modi told a joint news conference.
Ishiba said the two countries were advancing relations in coming years.
“When we think about Japan and India relations going forward, we need to take advantage of each other’s strengths, to bring solutions to our challenges and to help each other, or to think about possible solutions for the next generation’s challenges,” Ishiba said.
Increasing economic ties
The two leaders agreed to boost economic ties between their countries.
“India has a vast market with great potential in order to bring in the vitality of India that would grow the Japanese economy for Japan,” Ishiba said.
Modi called Japan “an important partner” in India’s development journey, and said its technology and India’s talent together can “lead this century’s tech revolution.”
“We believe that Japanese technology and Indian talent are a winning combination,” he said, adding that he told Japanese companies to invest in India at a business forum earlier Friday.
“I told Japanese companies: ‘Make in India, make for the world,’ ” he said.
Focus on Quad
Modi and Ishiba also reaffirmed their cooperation as part of the Quad framework of regional leaders, also including the United States and Australia and intended to counter China’s growing influence.
“India and Japan are fully committed to a free, open, peaceful, prosperous and rules-based Indo-Pacific,” Modi said.
Ishiba stressed the importance of deepening cooperation in the region.
“First of all, cooperation in security arena, in order to secure a peace and stability for the Indo-Pacific. We need to deepen cooperation between the defense authorities between the two countries,” Ishiba said.
Relationship between their countries
The two leaders hailed their strategic partnership.
“Japan and India are strategic partners sharing universal values such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law, and over many years we have nurtured a friendship built on trust,” Ishiba told the forum hosted by Japan’s powerful business lobby Keidanren.
Modi called the partnership between the two countries “strategic and smart.”
“Powered by economic logic, we have turned shared interests into shared prosperity,” he said at the forum.
